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More than 110 countries join COP28 deal to triple renewable energy by 2030
A pledge to triple the world’s installed renewable energy by 2030 has won support from more than 110 countries at the COP28 climate summit on Saturday, with some pushing to make the deal global by the end of the UN conference.
Issued on: 02/12/2023 – 08:32
2 min
Co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates addresses the panel session at the Business and Philanthropy Forum, during the United Nations Climate Change COP28 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Decemb
Co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates addresses the panel session at the Business and Philanthropy Forum, during the United Nations Climate Change COP28 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 2, 2023. © Thomas Mukoya, Reuters
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NEWS WIRES
More than 110 countries join deal to triple renewable energy
More than 110 countries have joined a pledge to triple the world’s renewable energy by 2030, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, and called on “all of us to include these targets in the final COP decision”.
Whether governments and companies will rally the huge investments needed to hit the goal is an open question. While deployment of renewables like solar and wind has been surging globally for years, rising costs, labour constraints and supply chain issues have forced project delays and cancellations in recent months, costing developers like Orsted and BP billions of dollars in writedowns.
Getting the deal into the final UN climate summit decision would also require consensus among the nearly 200 countries present. While China and India have signalled support for tripling global renewable energy by 2030, neither has confirmed it will back the overall pledge – which pairs the ramp-up in clean power with a reduction in fossil fuel use.
South Africa, Vietnam, Australia, Japan, Canada, Chile and Barbados are among the countries already on board, officials said.
More than 20 nations call for tripling of nuclear nuclear energy
More than 20 countries have called for the tripling of world nuclear energy capacity as part of efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
A declaration endorsed by nations ranging from the United States to Ghana to Japan and several European countries said nuclear energy plays a “key role” in reaching the goal of carbon neutrality.
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The use of nuclear energy as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels is controversial as environmental groups are concerned about safety and the disposal of nuclear waste.
“We are not making the argument to anybody that this is absolutely going to be a sweeping alternative to every other energy source,” US climate envoy John Kerry said. “But we know because the science and the reality of facts and evidence tell us that you can’t get to net zero 2050 without some nuclear,” he said.
The aim is to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050 from 2020 levels.
The other countries that signed up to the declaration include Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, South Korea, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)
