The G8 Renewables Task Force has produced a report that contains detailed and significant recommendations which, if agreed and implemented by the G8, will go a long way towards generating the global renewable energy revolution that is needed to combat climate change and improve the lives of billions of people world-wide.
Greenpeace and The Body Shop urge the G8 governments to adopt and act on the recommendations of the report. They should set themselves concrete timetables for implementation, and they should take the initiative further, both by expanding its ambition and by including other governments to create a truly global initiative.
John Morrison from the Body Shop said:
"This report confirms our belief in the provision of renewable energy on a global scale. What is more it shows that it can help meet real human needs in the developing world more effectively and more cheaply than fossil fuels. It lays out the path to a renewable energy revolution, and should be read in every company board room and government office of the world."
Matthew Spencer from Greenpeace said:
" Unusually we have a G8 report that has real substance and direction. It is a vindication of Tony Blair's initiative to put this issue on the table of the G8. It shows that rich countries could drive the renewable energy revolution both at home and abroad and meet the energy needs of 1 billion people at little or no cost. Blair now has to convince Bush to give up his backward view of environmental policy and support the aim of bringing renewable energy to the millions of people who currently have no power."
The following points and recommendations in the report are particularly noteworthy:
- The report clearly says that the only barriers to massive uptake and expansion of renewable are financial and political - not technological. This contradicts those who still say that the technology is not yet ready and further makes the case for action by governments.
- The report emphasizes life-cycle costs to show that renewables are often already competitive with conventional energy sources. This puts the lie to often-repeated assertions that renewables are too expensive. The Task Force goes even further and recommends that renewable energy projects are developed and funded not only when they are a least cost option on a life-cycle basis, but also "when they achieve protection of local and/or global environment at a reasonable cost."
- The report states that successful promotion of renewables over the next 30 years will prove less expensive than a "business as usual approach" to the global energy supply.
- The Task Force recommends that G8 countries take steps to remove incentives and other supports for environmentally harmful energy technologies.
- The Task Force recommends the implementation of common environmental guidelines among the G8 Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) which include minimum standards of energy-efficiency or carbon intensity for ECA-financed projects.
Unfortunately the Task Force has not been as ambitious as it could have been. Its plans involve bringing renewable energy to 800 million--less than half--of the two billion people in the world currently without access to modern energy by 2010. (A further 200 million in OECD countries brings the total covered by the report's recommendations up to one billion).
In contrast, a study commissioned recently by Greenpeace and The Body Shop showed that it is feasible to provide renewables to the full two billion people within 10 years. Greenpeace and The Body Shop will be campaigning for world governments to adopt such an ambition at the World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in September 2002. The high-profile campaign will run in The Body Ship stores across the world in the next few months.
The greatest flaw in the report of the Task Force is the failure to tackle adequately the need for a strategy to phase out of fossil fuels at the same time as renewable energy capacity is increased. There is just one recommendation which advocates removal of financial support to fossil fuels, but this is intended merely to create a level playing field for renewables to compete with other energy options. However, in order to head off further serious climate change, fossil fuels must be replaced by renewable energy and energy efficiency measures. Hence a level playing field--while better than the current situation where there are many barriers to renewable energy--is still inappropriate and insufficient if climate change is to be seriously tackled.
Notes for editors:
- The G8 Renewables Task Force. At their Summit in 2000 in Okinawa, the G8 group of countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United States, United Kingdom) agreed to set up a task force on Renewable Energy "to prepare concrete recommendations for consideration regarding sound ways to better encourage the use of renewables in developing countries" for consideration at this year's summit in Genoa, 20-22 July. The G8 saw this initiative as important to assist in mitigating the problems of climate change and air pollution, thus increasing quality of life, especially in developing countries.
- Campaign partnership between Greenpeace and The Body Shop. Leading environmental organisation Greenpeace has joined forces with international high street retailer, The Body Shop, to challenge world governments to provide access to renewable energy for all, in particular the two billion people who live without any power, within ten years. Currently, one third of the world's population live without access to electric lighting or adequate cooking facilities. Everyone has the right to power but many of the world's poorest are already experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change through increased floods, drought and disease, the result of centuries of the world's use of fossil fuel energy.
Greenpeace and the Body Shop have launched a new study "Power to Tackle Poverty" to provide a framework showing world governments how this ambitious target can be met and are urging G8 leaders to take action following their discussion of renewable energy at their summit in Genoa (20-22 July 2001).
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace UK Press Office on 020 7865 8255
