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UN chief urges “renewables revolution”, outlines five-point plan for energy shift
United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres has called for a “renewables revolution”, outlining a Five-point Energy Plan to shift to renewables beginning with treating the technologies as freely available “global public goods”.
“Identifying patents that can be made freely available – especially those relating to battery and storage capacity – are crucial for a rapid and fair energy transition,” he said.
He highlighted the need to secure, increase, and diversify supply chains for renewable energy technologies, pointing out that supply chains for components and raw materials are “still concentrated in a handful of countries”.
“We have the technology, capacity, and funds,” said the UN chief, “but we urgently need to put policies and frameworks in place to incentivize investments and eliminate bottlenecks caused by red tape, permits and grid connections”.
Shift subsidies from fossil fuels to renewable energy was his fourth point, as he noted that each year, governments spend around half a trillion dollars to artificially lower the price of fossil fuels – “more than triple what renewables receive”.
“If we channel these resources and subsidies to renewables, we not only cut emissions; we also create more decent and green jobs,” he argued.
Renewables are “the only credible path” to real energy security, stable power prices and sustainable employment opportunities, said the UN chief.
He also maintained that the share of renewables in global electricity generation must increase from nearly 30 percent today to over 60 percent in 2030 and 90 percent in 2050.
“Leaders in business as well as government must stop thinking about renewables as a distant project of the future”, underscored the top UN official.
“Had we invested massively in renewable energy in the past, we would not be in the middle of a climate emergency now,” he said, highlighting “Without renewables, there can be no future”.
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