100% Renewable Energy: Essential Response to the Climate Crisis
Bonn, 15 June 2023 – On the occasion of the UN Climate Change Conference SB58 currently taking place in Bonn, the Global 100% Renewable Energy Platform and its members call on the world community to focus on 100% renewable energy as the primary tool that alone can ensure sustainable development, help achieve SDG goal 7 and provide effective climate change mitigation.
Accordingly, Global100RE calls on all national and subnational governments and the world community to recognise:
1. A 100% renewable energy supply is the key answer to the climate crisis and must be the new normal.
2. There is an abundance of renewable energy, equalling more than 10’000 times the current global energy supply, which is more than sufficient to cover the global energy demand.
3. A renewable energy world has to be built from the bottom up, because it is fundamentally decentralised, using local resources such as land, landscape, natural environment, etc. Local solutions shall be based on a combination of the different renewable technologies in combination with storage and other flexibility options.
4. Communities around the world have already proven that a decentralised renewable energy economy does work, that it is beneficial for those communities and that the basic principle can be universally applied.
5. A renewable energy world is not only the answer to the climate crisis, but can provide universal access to energy and brings manifold other benefits such as more democracy, more participation, less pollution. And renewable energies are energies for peace.
6. Energy and climate policies must be enablers in order to mobilise the necessary economic, social and ecological resources that will be the basis for a renewable energy world. Using renewable energy is a basic right of every human being and must not be restricted.
7. Governments and international organisations must recognise the key role of citizens and communities in a renewable energy world. Accordingly, cities and local governments are key enablers and catalysts.
8. The world should refrain from technologies such as carbon capture (utilisation) and sequestration CCS/CCUS or nuclear power as they bring unnecessary risks at extremely high cost, serving only the few investors.
9. All subsidies for fossil and nuclear energy sources must be phased out, in order to create a level playing field and reveal the illusion of cheap fossil or nuclear energy.
10. The world energy supply can and shall be entirely converted to 100% renewable energy as soon as possible.
Julie Ducasse, Analyst at CAN International: “According to the latest report on the Sustainable Development Goal 7 for energy, 675 million people were still without electricity in 2021, and close to 570 million in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. Renewable energy is key to overcoming this barrier of inequitable energy access. It is the only viable, clean and safe alternative to fossil fuels and must be scaled up urgently, This is essential for future generations.”
Stefan Gsänger, WWEA Secretary General: “We must urgently accelerate the switch to renewable energy so that we have reached a full renewable energy supply in the coming decade. Empowering citizens and communities is a key for this goal.”
Dr. Tetsu Iida, ISEP Director: “We already have the technologies and the funding to achieve 100% renewable energy world. What we need now to accelerate this is policies that allow for broad citizen and community participation and ownership.”
Dr. David Renne, ISES Board Member: “We know that virtually all of our end use energy needs can be met with clean, low cost renewable energy technologies. Given the climate changes we are experiencing, and with the expectation of worsening future changes, governments, the business community, and civil society must make this affordable transition happen more quickly by working together to address a target for having all of our energy needs met through renewable energy technologies in a just and equitable way.”
Maryke van Staden, Director of ICLEI’s carbonn Climate Center: “Help those without energy by empowering them through renewables for cooking, heating/cooling, electricity and transport. Help the world by committing to and implementing immediately a 100% renewable energy transition strategy. This is a viable and sustainable approach, critical to respond to the global climate emergency. We need leadership from all national governments, subnational governments, civil society, business and industry now!”
