Press Conference on Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources

 

and Climate Change Mitigation

 

While renewable energy sources could help mitigate climate change, it was up to Governments to take the necessary action to make that possibility a reality, the head of the recognized scientific and technical authority on the phenomenon said at a Headquarters press conference today.

“The science clearly requires actions to be taken,” said Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), releasing the findings of the “Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation”.

The outcome of more than three years of work by some 130 researchers covering six types of renewable energy — bioenergy, geothermal energy, direct solar energy, hydropower, ocean energy and wind energy — the survey found that a number of viable applications of those sources could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector.  It also addressed renewable energy sources in the context of sustainable development and potential economic costs.

But while the report addressed the potential for renewable energy, only policy on the ground would drive its actual implementation, Mr. Pachauri warned.  More than 160 different scenarios for the penetration of renewable energy sources had been analysed in drafting the report, and the most optimistic had found that 77 per cent of the world’s energy demands could be met through “renewables” by 2050, he said.  However, the report’s authors were not suggesting that scenario would necessarily come to pass, he stressed.

“We’ve mapped out the policy space until 2050,” Mr. Pachauri explained, in response to a question about that optimistic goal.  In reality, only policy actions taken by Government would drive the implementation of “renewables”.

Asked whether another international body, besides the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, was needed to reinvigorate the cause of renewable energy, since Member States seemed to have “run out of steam” in the race for a binding agreement on climate change, Mr. Pachauri said the core benefits of renewables — including higher levels of energy security, health benefits, rising agricultural output and higher employment levels — should be attractive enough to persuade Governments.  There had been a “very clear expression of faith” in the multilateral process, he said, adding that to change the structure of the current process would cost valuable time.

Responding to a question about the report’s inclusion of biomass fuels as a category of renewable energy, he said a renewable resource was defined by the existence of opportunities to replace it.  In that respect, bioenergy — the production of energy from biomass feedstocks such as forest, agricultural and livestock residues — was indeed renewable, and, contrary to some popular misconceptions, it was not derived solely from the burning of trees.  There was no connection between the use of bioenergy and the reduction of forest cover, he said, adding nonetheless that the efficiency of burning biomass fuels should be improved.

Asked about the recent increased incidence of extreme climate events, Mr. Pachauri said the Panel had addressed that issue in several of its forums and reports and it was currently the subject of intensive research.  The Panel planned to launch a report focused on extreme climate by the end of 2011, he added.

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For information media • not an official record