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GLOBAL RENEWABLES ONLINE - DECEMBER 2011
“Despite the recession, total global
investment in renewable energy broke a
new record in 2010. Investment in
renewable power and fuels reached $211
billion, up 32% from $160 billion the
previous year. It is an encouraging trend,
since most of the future growth in energy
demand is expected to occur in
developing countries. Further, the spread
of renewables to more regions and
countries helps more of the world’s people
gain access to energy services not only to
meet their basic needs, but also to enable
them to develop economically. Today,
more people than ever before derive en-
ergy from renewables as capacity contin-
ues to grow, prices continue to fall, and
shares of global energy from renewable
energy continue to increase.”
ABOUT REN21
ADVOCACY - HIGHLIGHTING
BENEFITS
REN21 advocates the deployment of
renewable energy as a critical component
of strategies to increase access to energy
services and to alleviate poverty in
developing countries, and as a necessary
component of environmentally and
economically sound energy regimes in all
countries, in particular addressing
climate change and energy security.
By combining their experiences and
expertise, by hosting high profile
international events, and by producing
authoritative and influential issue papers,
REN21
participants
improve
the
understanding of the value and essential
An excerpt from Mohamed El-Ashry,
Chairman of REN21’s foreword in the
GSR:
“The global economic recession entered
a new phase in 2010, marked by massive
public finance crises – felt most acutely in
Europe – that led several governments to
announce incentive cuts for solar energy.
Natural gas prices remained low due to
advances in technology for extracting gas
from shale rock, temporarily reducing the
competitiveness of renewable energy.”
“At the same time, worldwide develop-
ments have highlighted the security,
economic, and human costs of relying so
heavily on fossil and nuclear energy. The
three-month long BP oil spill in the Gulf
of Mexico caused extensive damage and
continues to affect the economy and
welfare of people in the region. The ‘Arab
Spring’ of popular unrest has triggered
oil-price volatility and added instability
to energy markets, while at the same time
the global demand for oil is outpacing the
capacity for production. And Japan’s
Fukushima nuclear catastrophe has led
many countries to rethink the role of
nuclear energy in providing low-carbon
electricity.
“A positive constant amid this
turbulence has been the global perfor-
mance of renewable energy. Renewable
sources have grown to supply an
estimated 16% of global final energy
consumption in 2010. By year’s end,
renewables comprised one-quarter of
global power capacity from all sources
and delivered close to one-fifth of the
world’s power supply.”
REN21: ON EMERGING ECONOMIES - COVER STORY
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