Weekend Read. COP: A solar flop?
Tripling clean energy generation capacity to 11 TW by 2030 was a leading pledge from the United Nations’ (UN) climate change conference in Dubai. With few details about infrastructure and energy storage and no clear PV targets, however, it is hard to judge the effectiveness of the 28th global Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting. Angela Skujins considers possible impacts for the solar industry.
Consumers have a right to know the energy make-up of goods
With energy certification already a must-have for any business which makes green energy claims, Ed Everson, chief executive of England-based, global certification company Evident, makes the case for firms to be required to make full disclosure of their energy sources.
COP27 failed the most climate-vulnerable
While the climate summit held at Sharm El Sheikh last month prompted pledges of raised funding for solar lanterns and single-panel systems, the money allocated to date is woefully short of what has been estimated would be required to provide universal access to electricity this decade. Drew Corbyn of Netherlands-based global off-grid solar body GOGLA, outlines three urgent courses of action to accelerate access to electricity.
World Bank lends $200m for South African renewables
The private sector arm of the multilateral development bank has offered a $200 million credit line to Nedbank, the first commercial bank in South Africa to offer a green bond, which it did on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 2019.
Renewables are now the cheapest source of energy, says EBRD
Announcing its participation at the FT Climate Finance Summit in London, the bank says that through targeted financial commitments, increasing competition and progressive policy changes, prices for renewable energy resources have come down to US$0.025/ kWh in Egypt and Jordan, for example. The bank calls for a change in investment practices to further this development.
