Renewables can meet energy needs even as CO2 emissions rise

Commissioned by Greenpeace and Europe’s Renewable Energy Council, the study claims that the rising energy demand by emerging economies such as China and India could be balanced out by greater energy efficiency in the developed nations. “In a best case scenario, by 2050, the majority of fossil fuels will be used in the transport sector,” said Sven Teske of Greenpeace International. “Renewables will dominate the electricity and heating and cooling sectors. In the Middle East we will see a lot of solar power, while northern Europe and North America will have much more wind energy.”

Teske warned, however, that only strict energy standards in developed nations would ensure a balancing effect: with only the most efficient products and vehicles going on sale.

Greenpeace and the Renewable Energy Council are now lobbying governments to take action. In the light of this study and the Stern Review, Teske says: “What we want to believe is that there is a change in the minds of politicians, especially after what we have seen happen to the climate.”

• Carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere much faster than scientists expected. New figures from measuring stations around the world reveal that concentrations of CO2 rose at record levels during 2006. Peter Cox of Exeter University said: “The concern is that climate change itself will affect the ability of the land to absorb emissions. This means our emissions will have a progressively bigger impact on climate change because more of them remain in the air. It accelerates the rate of change, so we get it sooner and we get it harder.”