Pressure to boost more solar, wind ahead of COP28
The head of the COP28 climate summit next month, along with two renewable energy organizations, said on Monday that governments need to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 in order to stop global warming exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius, as Yousef Saba and Kate Abnett report here. That’s not going to be easy with the world’s major oil companies’ plans to double down on oil and gas investment, but nonetheless, the COP discussions – led by oil producer the United Arab Emirates – continue.
The conference in Dubai in late November will focus on trying to address holes in the 2015 Paris agreement, as the UAE, along with International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Global Renewables Alliance all said that renewable energy capacity needs “to reach more than 11,000 gigawatts” by 2030. Most major world economies are on board with this including the G20, which agreed in September to pursue efforts to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030.
Still, scientists say Earth will cross the 1.5°C threshold in the coming decade, unleashing far more severe climate change effects on people, wildlife and ecosystems, and striking a deal among 200 countries at COP28 will not be easy.