The Sustainable Energy for All Forum is the landmark gathering celebrating the global sustainable energy movement. Over 1,000 high-level representatives from government, business, civil society and international organizations will gather in New York City for the 3rd Sustainable Energy for All Forum – its theme “Going Further, Faster – Together.”
Johannesburg, South Africa, 23 November 2016 – ‘Expensive, inaccessible, complicated and unreliable’ are a few of the misperceptions about renewable energy that persist, despite South Africa’s success in building out its large-scale renewable energy infrastructure.
To a large extent, the country’s progress in renewables has been driven by the highly successful Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) program, which has set the country on its path to achieving 30% clean energy by 2025.
According to the South African Department of Energy (DoE), since 2011, 6,327MWs of renewable energy has been procured from 92 independent power producers located in South Africa’s nine provinces. The energy delivered by these power producers warms homes, keeps schools, businesses, and hospitals open, and allows South Africans around the country to live fuller, brighter lives.
COP22 venue in Marrakesch, Morroco. Photo credit: Max Thabiso Edkins/Connect4Climate
All eyes have been on Marrakech recently, where the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22) took place. There, countries from around the world, including South Africa and the United States, celebrated remarkable progress that has been made and the unity in the global community in fighting climate change with real action. South Africa’s commitment to renewable energy is just one of many remarkable contributions it has made to this worldwide effort.
“South Africa has a world class renewable energy program, thanks in part to its innovative energy policy that has facilitated the development of projects that are commercially competitive with plants using traditional fuels.
“I am proud that U.S. firms are the biggest investors in the renewables sector; if South Africa continues to pursue its policy to expand the number of wind and solar projects, we expect that significant new foreign investments will come in, prices for the consumer will continue to improve and significant new jobs will be created in the sector,” said U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, Patrick Gaspard.
According to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa, solar photovoltaic and wind energy are 40 percent less expensive than baseload coal-fired power stations, providing economic benefits to the entire South African economy.
Photo credit: U.S. Embassy in South Africa
Further benefits are also evident in the industry’s employment opportunities. In 2015, the SA DoE estimated that REIPPPP has, so far, contributed to 109,443 employment opportunities during both construction and operational phases.
Yet despite this program’s success, the overwhelming majority of South Africans remain unaware of what has been achieved through renewable energy and how this impacts their lives. This is a recurring challenge that renewable energy communications and marketing industries, in particular, are countering.
That is why the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria has partnered with the South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), CSIR, and Connect4Climate to host the inaugural ‘Energy21: Exchange Hub’ in Pretoria on November 30 –December, 1, 2017.
Photo credit: World Bank
The Energy21: Exchange Hub will bring together current and future leaders in the private sector, non-government organizations, and government who work on renewable energy policy and promotion to partake in two days of strategic discussions and training.
They will learn new tactics and develop new communications strategies to raise public awareness and build support for continued investment in the energy of the future.
“The goals of the Paris Agreement will only be achieved if all of us – experts in renewable energy and citizens alike, Americans, South Africans and people in countries around the world – commit ourselves to ensuring environmentally-friendly practices such as South Africa’s REIPPP can thrive and succeed.
“South Africa is one of few countries on Earth that has the potential to stand at the forefront of developing and deploying the world’s 21st century energy technology, and we look forward to working with leaders in the renewable energy sector who are paving the way. We thank DEA and CSIR for partnering with us on this important initiative,” Ambassador Gaspard added.
Energy21 is highlighting the tremendous benefits South Africa is deriving from the development of wind and solar energy through increased energy security, job creation and economic development. Renewables are the energy of the future, and they’re working for us now.
The world is experiencing a rising youth population. This new generation has an increasing social and environmental awareness, with the energy and knowledge to lead our societies towards a low carbon and climate resilient future.
Be a part of the largest business-focused event taking place during the annual Conference of Parties (COP22) - the Sustainable Innovation Forum 2016 - taking place on 14-15 November at the Four Seasons Marrakech, Morocco.
Building on year-round work from Climate Action and the UN Environment Programme, the 2 day Forum will convene cross-sector participants from business, Government, finance, UN, NGO and civil society to create an unparalleled opportunity to bolster sustainable innovation and bring scale to the emerging green economy.
Greater cooperation through carbon trading could reduce the cost of climate change mitigation by 32 percent by 2030, according to a new World Bank report released today at an international carbon event in Vietnam.
New modelling analysis undertaken for the State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2016 report shows that increased international carbon trading could enable large-scale emissions reductions at much lower cost than at present, based on the carbon mitigation goals spelled out in countries’ national climate plans under the Paris Agreement -- the Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs. By the middle of the century, an international market has the potential to reduce global mitigation costs by more than 50 percent.
The goal of limiting emission reductions to meet a 2°C or lower target will be difficult to achieve cost-efficiently without more carbon trading, according to the report, prepared by the World Bank and launched at the 15th Assembly of the Partnership for Market Readiness.
“The more we cooperate through carbon trading, the larger the savings and the greater the potential to increase ambition by countries in the short term,” said John Roome, Senior Director for Climate Change at the World Bank. “To be effective, carbon pricing policies must be coordinated with other energy and environmental policies –this will require collaboration within and between countries.”
The Paris Agreement, reached at COP21 in late 2015, sets up a framework for global cooperation through carbon markets. Over 100 countries consider carbon pricing initiatives as part of their NDCs, through emissions trading within or across borders, international crediting, carbon taxation and other measures.
Under this new cooperative framework, one country can benefit from mitigation activities resulting in emission reductions in another country to fulfill its NDC. The report indicates that financial flows of 2–5 percent of gross domestic product in countries with lower-cost mitigation activities could be realized for investments that will reduce emissions by 2050.
The report also shows that momentum on carbon pricing has continued to grow. In 2016, 40 national jurisdictions and over 20 cities, states, and regions are putting a price on carbon, including seven out of 10 of the world’s largest economies. The coverage of carbon pricing initiatives on global emissions has increased threefold over the past decade, translating to the equivalent of around 7 gigatons of carbon dioxide (GtCO2e), or about 13 percent of global GHG emissions. In addition, governments raised about US$26 billion in revenues from carbon pricing initiatives in 2015. This represents a 60 percent increase compared to the revenues raised in 2014.
This year saw the launch of two new carbon pricing initiatives: British Columbia put a price on emissions from liquefied natural gas plants alongside its carbon tax, and Australia implemented a safeguard mechanism to the Emissions Reduction Fund, requiring large emitters that exceed their set limit to offset excess emissions.
Looking ahead, next year could see the largest ever increase in the share of global emissions covered by carbon pricing initiatives in a single year. If the Chinese national Emissions Trading System (ETS) is implemented in 2017 as planned, it would become the largest carbon pricing initiative in the world, surpassing the EU ETS. Initial estimates show that emissions covered by carbon pricing initiatives could increase from 13 percent to between 20 and 25 percent of global GHG emissions.
In April, the High Level Panel on Carbon Pricing called upon the international community to double the percentage of global emissions covered by explicit carbon prices to 25% by 2020 and to double it again to 50% within a decade. Heads of State from Canada, Chile, Ethiopia, France, Germany and Mexico are among the leaders calling for this increased commitment.
The report was prepared with the technical support of Ecofys and Vivid Economics.
To download the full report, visit https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/25160
War and conflicts are ravaging communities across the world today. The recent years have also seen wide-spread targeting of women and girls in conflict zones and a marked pushback on women’s rights. Sixteen years since the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 1325 in 2000, the women, peace and security agenda remains relevant and critical in the face of rising violence, extremism and deadly conflicts.
Even as women continue to bear the brunt of war, there is increased recognition of their pivotal role as peacebuilders. For example, in 2015, 7 out of 10 peace agreements signed included gender specific provisions [1]—a vast improvement compared against the analysis showing that only 73 out of 664 agreements produced between 1990 and 2000 included a reference to women. More security sector personnel are now trained to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence, and more countries are implementing national action plans or related strategies.
When women are included in peace processes, there is a 20 per cent increase in the probability of an agreement lasting at least 2 years, and a 35 per cent increase in the probability of an agreement lasting at least 15 years [3]. There is a growing momentum for fulfilling the women, peace and security agenda: at the 2015 High-Level Review of the implementation of resolution 1325, more than 180 political, financial and institutional commitments were made by Member States and regional organizations.Resolution 2242, which was adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council during the 2015 Open Debate, together with the seven previous resolutions and related policy commitments on women, peace and security, provide a strong common agenda for action.
Yet, implementation of policies and international commitments on the ground remain unfulfilled. Much more needs to be done. For example, women make only 3 per cent of UN military peacekeepers [4]. In conflict-affected countries, women’s share of seats in parliament is four per cent lower than the global average of 22.7 per cent [5]. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently urged all actors, including governments, to earmark 15 per cent of peacebuilding funds to projects that directly advance gender equality, which would not always require new funding, but rather, a prioritization within existing funds.
On 25 October 2016, the UN Security Council will convene its annual Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, with a focus on how Member States, regional organizations and the UN have followed-up on commitments and recommendations from the 2015 High-level Review and the related Global Study on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). The Debate will also consider future steps to advancing the agenda, taking into account new threats and emerging challenges, including the rise of violent extremism, the protracted nature of displacement and the impact of climate shocks.
The new report of the UN Secretary-General on women, peace and security (S/2016/822) brings forth information on recent trends and highlights latest development and results. It also provides an update on the status of implementation since 1 January 2015 and draws attention to areas of stagnation and regression and other concerning developments. The report features initiatives such as the new mechanism in the Security Council, the Informal Experts Group on women, peace and security, designed to ensure greater flows of quality and actionable information to the Council; the new Global Acceleration Instrument on women, peace and security and humanitarian action, aimed at catalyzing new funding for commitments on this agenda and country-level progress in a range of areas from implementation of National Action Plans to increased women’s leadership in institutions responsible for peace and security. It further notes that the priority areas identified last year continue to require urgent action.
On the 16th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, UN Women spotlights women’s leadership and the critical role they play in preventing conflict, sustaining peace and shaping more effective responses to today’s complex crises.
