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NRDC: Delivering on Renewable Energy Around the World

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NRDC: Delivering on Renewable Energy Around the World NRDC: Health and Climate Change - Accounting for Costs (PDF) ENERGY FACTS Bali © Jeda Villa Solar power panels in Indonesia. © lets.book Geothermal power station in Tuscany, Italy. Delivering On Renewable Energy Around The World: How Do Key Countries Stack Up? by Jake Schmidt and Aaron Haifly In 2002, countries met in Johannesburg, South Africa for the 10th anniversary of the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the Johannesburg Earth Summit, countries committed to: “…substantially increase the global share of renewable energy sources with the objective of increasing its contribution to total energy supply…”1 Since that time, renewable energy deployment and investment have increased, but work remains. At the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit—Earth Summit 2012, scheduled for this June—countries, companies, cities, and individuals need to commit to increasing the amount of wind, solar, geothermal, tidal, and wave power throughout the world, to 15 percent of total electricity by 2020—more than doubling what is predicted under current trends.2 For more Jake Schmidt www.nrdc.org/policy information, [email protected] www.facebook.com/nrdc.org please (202) 289-2388 www.twitter.com/nrdc contact: switchboard.nrdc.org/ blogs/jschmidt WHO HAS THE MOST WIND, SOLAR, Within the G20 countries, Germany had the largest GEOTHERMAL, TIDAL, AND WAVE amount of its electricity produced from renewable sources in 2011, followed by the European Union (E.U.) as a bloc, Italy ELECTRICITY IN THE G20? and Indonesia.5 The United States ranked 7th, India came The countries which comprise the Group of Twenty Finance in 9th, and China ranked 12th (see figure 1).6 However, all Ministers and Central Bank Governors (also known as the of these countries are significantly behind Spain, Portugal, G20) accounted for approximately 80 percent of the total Iceland, and New Zealand which each produced more than electricity produced in the world in 2010. Given these 15 percent of their electricity from these sources.7 statistics, as a group they are critical in shaping renewable The largest growth since 2002 has occurred in South energy trends, as it is these countries where most of the Korea, followed by China, and then Brazil (see table 1).8 current and future energy demands are occurring.3 In 2010, This trend shows that these countries both started at a low they accounted for more than 82 percent of the world’s solar, level of renewable-based electricity production and have wind, geothermal, tidal, and wave electricity production.4 So significantly sped up their deployment since. (See appendix how do these countries stack up in terms of the share of their 1 for information on each country from 2002 to 2011 and electricity that comes from these sources? details on the methodology.) Figure 1: G20 Renewable Electricity Production n Greater than 15 percent n 5 percent or above n Less than 5 percent Numbers represent G20 country rankings. Renewable energy in this figure includes wind, solar, geothermal, tidal, and wave. Source: NRDC, 2012; U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2012; Bloomberg New Energy Finance, 2012. PAGE 2 | Delivering On Renewable Energy Around the World Table 1: Electricity from Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Tidal, and Wave in the G20 Countries Percent of Overall Electricity Total Produced from Wind, Solar, Percent Change Production Geothermal & Tidal (billion kWh) 2011 Rank 2011 Rank 2002 to 2011 Rank Argentina 0.1% 17 0.06 18 -12% 20 Australia 2.2% 10 5.45 13 1260% 6 Brazil 0.5% 16 2.94 16 4965% 3 Canada 1.0% 13 5.94 12 1254% 7 China 1.5% 12 67.04 3 7605% 2 EU-27 6.7% 2 214.97 1 439% 10 France 2.8% 6 15.91 7 1961% 5 Germany 10.7% 1 55.76 4 266% 12 India 2.4% 9 22.88 5 792% 9 Indonesia 5.7% 4 9.30 10 57% 16 Italy 6.2% 3 18.77 6 225% 13 Japan 1.0% 14 10.61 9 151% 15 Mexico 2.6% 8 7.1 11 37% 17 Russia 0.0% 20 0.5 17 190% 14 Saudi Arabia 0.0% 18 0.05 19 0% 19 South Africa 0.0% 19 0.00 20 6% 18 South Korea 0.9% 15 4.13 15 19584% 1 Turkey 1.9% 11 4.30 14 2847% 4 United Kingdom 4.2% 5 15.32 8 1181% 8 United States 2.7% 7 111.93 2 341% 11 G20 Total 1.8% 2453 274% Source: Natural Resources Defense Council, Energy Information Administration, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance. CLEAN ENERGY INVESTMENTS ARE GROWING In 2011, new clean energy investments in the G20 countries increased to $160 billion, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.9 This indicates a continued trend of rising investments in wind, solar, and other renewable sources of electricity. Since 2004, new clean-energy investment in the G20 countries has grown by almost 600 percent, which has far outpaced the growth in the overall economy in those countries.10 Since 2004, the largest amount of total new investment has occurred in the EU, followed by the United States and China (see table 2 and appendix 2).11 This reflects the implementation of significant policies, incentives, and Wind turbines on the coast other programs in these countries to spur renewable of Workington in England. electricity deployment. PAGE 3 | Delivering On Renewable Energy Around the World Table 2: Top Countries for Clean Energy Investments in 2011 2011 New Clean Energy Investments Total (2004 to 1st Quarter 2012) Billion $US Rank Billion $US Rank China 49.74 1 197.49 3 United States 44.51 2 214.96 2 EU-27 38.71 3 290.68 1 Germany 10.57 49.35 Italy 3.96 24.28 United Kingdom 5.58 45.42 Spain 7.34 77.47 France 2.26 20.84 India 10.13 4 39.72 5 Brazil 8.23 5 52.31 4 Canada 5.01 6 23.88 6 Indonesia 1.01 7 2.74 1 Australia 1.00 8 10.31 7 Japan 0.54 9 9.41 8 Turkey 0.28 10 5.57 10 South Korea 0.20 11 4.41 11 Argentina 0.14 12 1.83 12 Mexico 0.05 13 6.03 9 South Africa 0.02 14 0.83 10 Russian Federation 0.00 15 0.79 13 Saudi Arabia 0.00 16 0.02 14 Total G20 159.56 860.99 Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance, 2012; values include new investments from venture capital, private equity, public markets, and asset finance. PROGRESS SINCE 2002, BUT NOT COUNTRIES CAN UNLEASH EVEN FAST ENOUGH MORE POTENTIAL AT RIO+20 Since 2002, the G20 countries have more than tripled the At the Earth Summit 2012 civic and corporate stakeholders amount of their electricity produced from wind, solar, must commit to do more to increase electricity production geothermal, tidal, and wave power. Despite this growth, from renewable sources. While a global agreement to spur the share of electricity from these sources is still a small this deployment is certainly helpful, it is more important that portion of their overall electricity mix—2.6 percent for the these key actors come to Earth Summit 2012 with individual G20 as a whole. commitments to increase the amount of wind, solar, On current trends, the G20 countries are on a trajectory geothermal, tidal, and wave power throughout the world to to produce less than 4 percent of their electricity from 15 percent of total electricity by 2020—more than doubling these sources by 2015 and less than 6 percent in 2020 what is predicted under current trends.13 (see figure 2).12 PAGE 4 | Delivering On Renewable Energy Around the World These individual commitments must entail: Figure 2: G20 Trends in Wind, Solar, Geothermal, 1. Targeted, short-term individual commitments that Tidal, and Wave Electricity Production entail specific new laws, programs, and incentives that will enable them to meet their existing pledges, or details 9 on new actions that they will implement with clear plans 8 through 2015 at the latest. For example, countries could commit to passing laws to ensure that 15 percent of their 7 electricity is produced from these renewable sources. Or, 6 companies could commit to invest a certain amount of money in this effort. 5 Percent 2. Commitments to work together, where appropriate, 4 including sharing technical assistance and coordinating actions. These efforts should include a group of like- 3 minded countries, companies, and Non-Government 2 Organizations that commit to implement the necessary steps to close the gap between the current trend and the 1 15 percent target. These entities must commit to follow- 0 through so that Rio is not simply a one-off event. 2002 2005 2008 2011 2014 2017 2020 3. Provisions for monitoring and reporting to ensure that G20 Doubling the commitments are delivered on the ground. These 10-year trend Tripling should entail specific timelines for each action and clear Last 5-year trend metrics for determining success. Office building with solar power panels in London, England. PAGE 5 | Delivering On Renewable Energy Around the World APPENDIX 1: G20 COUNTRIES WIND, SOLAR, GEOTHERMAL, TIDAL, AND WAVE ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION: 2002 TO 2011 Share of Electricity from Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Tidal, & Wave Actual Change 2002 to 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2011 Canada 0.08% 0.15% 0.2% 0.2% 0.4% 0.5% 0.6% 0.6% 0.8% 1.0% 1195% Mexico 2.52% 2.97% 2.9% 3.0% 2.7% 3.0% 2.8% 2.7% 2.7% 2.6% 1% United 0.66% 0.67% 0.7% 0.8% 1.0% 1.2% 1.7% 2.2% 2.4% 2.7% 304% States Argentina 0.09% 0.08% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% -39% France 0.15% 0.17% 0.2% 0.3% 0.5% 0.8% 1.1% 1.6% 2.2% 2.8% 1820% Germany 2.78% 3.22% 4.3% 4.7% 5.3% 6.9% 7.2% 7.6% 8.4% 10.7% 287% Turkey 0.12% 0.11% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.4% 0.9% 1.5% 1.8% 1.9% 1491% United 0.33% 0.33% 0.5% 0.7% 1.1% 1.4% 1.9% 2.3% 3.1% 4.2% 1169% Kingdom Saudi 0.00% 0.00% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0% Arabia South 0.02% 0.02% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% -10% Africa Australia 0.19% 0.34% 0.3% 0.4% 0.7% 1.1% 1.6% 1.5% 1.8% 2.2% 1085% India 0.45% 0.57% 0.7% 1.0% 1.2% 1.5% 1.6% 1.8% 2.1% 2.4%
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