1.5 degree target otherwise out of sight: Greenpeace: G7 must increase investment in renewable energy tenfold

1.5 degree target otherwise out of sight
Greenpeace: G7 must increase investment in renewable energy tenfold

06/25/2022, 01:40 am

According to the environmental organization Greenpeace, G7 countries are still investing very little in renewable energy. Instead, a lot of money is being poured into fossil fuels. Germany must five-fold its commitment, with Japan, Canada and the United States looking even worse.

According to one study, G7 countries spend on average almost the same amount of money in expanding renewable energy into climate-damaging fuels coal, oil and gas. Citing an analysis by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), environmental organization Greenpeace reported that the seven large participating industrial countries are not investing even ten percent of the amount that would decisively advance the economy’s climate-resilient transformation. would be necessary to increase. Limit global warming to below 1.5°C.

In 2015 in Paris, the world community set a goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial era. Greenpeace energy expert Jonas Ott said shortly before the G7 summit in Elmau, Bavaria, from Sunday to Tuesday, “It cannot be that rich industrialized countries continue to invest huge amounts in the energy that is destroying all our livelihoods.” Is.” If one still wants to reach the 1.5 degree target, then instead of promoting fossil fuels, all the money will have to be channeled into the expansion of renewable energy. These include hydropower, solar and wind power as well as biomass and geothermal energy.

According to the analysis, Germany paid about 88 billion euros annually for fossil fuels from Russia between 2015 and 2021. On the other hand, only about 26 billion euros were invested in the energy transition between 2015 and 2020. According to the study, however, Germany would need to invest around 119 billion euros per year to be able to meet the set climate goals.

USA will have to invest 40 times more money

Research shows that the gap between planned and required investments in climate protection is even larger in countries such as Canada, Japan and the United States. To be able to meet the climate goals, the United States will need to multiply its annual investment in the energy transition. According to this, about 40 times more money will have to flow into renewable energy every year than before.

“The analysis shows very clearly that the largest industrialized nations are not fulfilling their responsibility for a climate-friendly world,” Ott says. The G7 has the task of investing significantly more in renewable energy with immediate effect and using its technological know-how to start the global energy transition.

From 26 to 28 June, the Heads of State and Government of the seven major Western Industrialized Countries (G7) will meet in Schloss Elmau in Bavaria. One of the major issues is the global fight against global warming. The G7 includes Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, the US, Canada and Japan.