The transition to renewable energies can be good for the climate, but it could ...

How can we speed up the transition to renewable energy? Our vision is for a clean, green, and equitable energy future. The world needs at least a nine-fold increase in renewable energy production to meet the Paris Agreement climate goals and much more to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The rapid transition to renewable energy will be good for people and the planet. But the land-use footprint for this buildout will be large because renewable energy infrastructure requires a lot of land—especially onshore wind and large-scale solar installations. This raises the potential for land-use conflicts over renewable energy.We need to go smart to go fast—deploying renewable energy in ways that support goals for climate, conservation, and communities. Driving the Energy Transition By delivering innovative strategies grounded in leading science, partnerships, public policy, and market-based approaches, TNC is helping catalyze a rapid renewable energy buildout that safeguards nature and supports an equitable transition for communities. TNC is currently focusing on the United States, Europe, and India, and piloting strategies in Africa, China, and Latin America.We are working with multilateral institutions and partners around the world to share knowledge and influence commitments, to support a low conflict, low carbon, and community-friendly renewable energy future. The Purpose-Driven Toolkit is an integrated suite of clean energy procurement resources that embed 3C principles. It i...

Date published: August 11, 2020 Accelerating the shift to a clean economy will unleash a wealth of new job opportunities in renewable energy, manufacturing and infrastructure. But what will happen to the workers, families and communities dependent on fossil fuels as a key economic driver? How will they be protected and prepared? The ongoing decline in coal jobs and its impact on communities — from West Virginia to Wyoming — highlights the need for proactive policies. It also provides relevant examples of what could happen to other fossil fuel workers and communities if serious action to ensure a fair transition is not taken. How are energy jobs changing? Over the last century, fossil fuels — coal, oil, and natural gas — have dominated the energy mix in the United States and powered sectors across the economy. But that mix is changing. In the last decade, the US has seen a 40% decline in coal-fired power generation, one of the most significant uses of coal. And coal mining has been in decline well before the last decade: Over 100,000 coal jobs have been lost since the mid-1980s. [On the left] Coal plants in 278 counties have retired since 2000. This map shows these counties and nearby counties (within 5 miles). Source: EIA. [On the right] Coal mining jobs have declined by two-thirds since 1985. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. The impacts of COVID-19 on the energy sector have exacerbated the trend of job displacement that was already underway due to the shifting economic...

Clean power installations declined in 2022 for the first time in five years, according to In total, more than 25.5 gigawatts of clean power were installed last year —enough to power 5 million homes in the U.S. That represents a drop of 15 percent from 2021 deployment levels. The report defines clean power as onshore and offshore wind, utility-scale solar, and battery storage technology. American Clean Power warned that if the country continues at a rate of 25.5 gigawatts annually, the U.S. will install only 30 percent of the clean power needed to reach President Joe Biden’s goal of decarbonizing the power sector by 2035. It’s a stark reminder of how permitting — the various approval processes needed for projects to get sited and connected to the grid — may make or break the buildout of clean energy. Experts have long said that permitting changes will be needed to decarbonize the power sector, and American Clean Power’s finding arrived just a week before lawmakers finally reached a deal on permitting reform to raise the debt ceiling. But some in the field say “It is critical that Congress build upon these initial steps,” said Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, in a Donate This congressional session, both Republicans looking to streamline permitting for fossil fuels and Democratic lawmakers hoping to ramp up renewable power Energy advocates argue that these NEPA amendments weaken the law’s public input processes, limiting the ability of frontline comm...

getty The Growing Importance Of Renewable Energy With climate change continuing to grow in extent and impact, the shift to renewable energy sources has become imperative. While the environmental benefits of this gradual shift to using greener and cleaner raw materials to generate energy cannot be stressed enough, growth in the renewable energy space is also set to open up a myriad of new and promising avenues for investments. There are many long-term opportunities here to take advantage of. For businesses, this may come in the form of increased margins because of financial incentives or infrastructural support from the government. For investors, this could mean more under-the-radar investment options–something to help diversify their portfolios into the much-talked-about ESG (environmental, social and governance) space. Headwinds & Tailwinds In The Face Of The Transition As the world transitions towards renewable energy, the space is now propelled by more tailwinds than the headwinds it is facing. While headwinds such as the high cost of renewable energy production and project delays continue to weigh down the pace of growth and advancement in the sector, we’re also seeing strong demand, new and increased incentives, and cost competitiveness serving as key tailwinds enabling this transition. The Covid pandemic did bring about supply chain disruptions, interconnection bottlenecks, transmission limitations and trade policy uncertainty–impacting investment into and developmen...

Four key climate change indicators – greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification – The key to tackling this crisis is to end our reliance on energy generated from fossil fuels - the main cause of climate change. “The good news is that the lifeline is right in front of us,” says UN Secretary-General António Guterres, stressing that renewable energy technologies like wind and solar already exist today, and in most cases, are cheaper than coal and other fossil fuels. We now need to put them to work, urgently, at scale and speed. Make renewable energy technology a global public good For renewable energy technology to be a global public good - meaning Essential technologies such as battery storage systems allow energy from renewables, like solar and wind, to be stored and released when people, communities and businesses need power. They help to increase energy system flexibility due to their unique capability to quickly absorb, hold and re-inject electricity, says the Moreover, when paired with renewable generators, battery storage technologies can provide Improve global access to components and raw materials A robust supply of renewable energy It will take significant international coordination to expand and diversify manufacturing capacity globally. Moreover, greater investments are needed to ensure a just transition - including in people’s skills training, research and innovation, and incentives to build supply chains through sustainable...

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Photo: The head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, has been claiming that Environmentalists have been The reality is that wind and solar are only cheap during the early stages of transition. Until now, renewables have been viable because of the massive base of fossil fuel generation that On the surface, Europe’s woes are due to soaring natural gas prices as the global economy bounces back from the COVID-19 pandemic. But the underlying problem is that as countries like Germany and Britain have built out their wind and solar capacity, the energy supply becomes more unpredictable and variable, thus increasing reliance on gas to make up for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. And gas prices are Getting past fossil fuels means finding ways of storing the excess electricity that’s generated when there’s too much wind and sun and releasing it later when there’s not enough. Right now, we can do this cheaply with To make matters worse, we are quickly using up the best locations for wind and solar. These are places near to existing transmission lines that receive strong and steady wind or sun. To build out more renewables, we will need to lay out thousands more miles of transmission lines to reach remote windy and sunny areas. Peter Fox-Penner, author of Power After Carbon, estimates that the United States’ All of this new technology and infrastructure will have to be paid for by someone. While Environmentalists, politicians, and regulators need to be...