{"id":2215,"date":"2021-01-10T15:37:03","date_gmt":"2021-01-10T15:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/?p=2215"},"modified":"2021-01-18T15:42:53","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T15:42:53","slug":"growing-momentum-to-make-2021-the-global-action-year-for-sustainable-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/en\/novedades\/growing-momentum-to-make-2021-the-global-action-year-for-sustainable-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Growing momentum\u2019 to make 2021 the global action year for sustainable energy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>January 10, 2021<\/p>\n<p>Despite that the world is not on track\u202fto meet climate objectives and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) for universal access to clean, affordable and reliable energy, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.undp.org\/content\/undp\/en\/home\/learnmore.html?author=authors%3AMarcelAlers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Marcel Alers<\/a>,\u00a0<a class=\"word-link\" title=\"UNDP\" href=\"https:\/\/www.undp.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UNDP<\/a>\u00a0Head of Energy,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.undp.org\/content\/undp\/en\/home\/blog\/2020\/five-reasons-to-be-optimistic-about-clean-energy-in-2021.html\">said\u00a0<\/a>that \u201cclean energy solutions exist that can get us there\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is growing momentum to make them political and investment priorities\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n<div class=\"dnd-widget-wrapper context-un_news_default type-twitter atom-align-right\">\n<div class=\"dnd-atom-rendered\">\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/index.html?creatorScreenName=UN_News_Centre&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1345503267720146946&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.un.org%2Fen%2Fstory%2F2021%2F01%2F1081272&amp;siteScreenName=UN_News_Centre&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1345503267720146946\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Smart investment<\/h3>\n<p>Fossil fuels used to be less expensive than clean energy but that is changing, according to Mr. Alers.<\/p>\n<p>Renewables are becoming more affordable every year, and \u201csome options are now cheaper than fossil fuels\u201d, he said, pointing out that since 2010, the price of solar had\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/agenda\/2020\/12\/renewables-energy-price-cost-cheap-climate-change-sustainability\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">decreased<\/a>\u00a0by 89 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is now\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iea.org\/reports\/world-energy-outlook-2020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cheaper to go solar<\/a>\u202fthan to build new coal power plants in most countries, and solar is now\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iea.org\/reports\/world-energy-outlook-2020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the cheapest electricity in history<\/a>\u201d, the UNDP official said.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, amidst an exceptionally challenging year, and despite suffering setbacks,\u202fthe renewables sector has shown resilience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis fall in price, coupled with technological progress and the introduction of innovative business models, means we are now at a tipping point\u201d, he said, urging for a large-scale clean energy investments from the public and private sectors.<\/p>\n<h3>Translating pledges to action<\/h3>\n<p>Throughout 2020, countries have pledged to build back better, greener and fairer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith support from\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.undp.org\/climatepromise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UNDP\u2019s Climate Promise<\/a>, 115 countries committed to submitting enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions\u201d, Mr. Alers said.<\/p>\n<p>Among other things, he noted that high-emitting economies, such as China, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the European Union, had made net-zero commitments and that United States President-elect Joe Biden had vowed to rejoin the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom.unfccc.int\/unfccc-newsroom\/finale-cop21\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Paris Agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese pledges now need to be translated into action\u201d, said the UNDP official. \u201cAmbitious commitments are a strong signal and a necessary first step towards reaching net-zero emissions. We now need to build on them\u201d.<\/p>\n<h3>Green recovery<\/h3>\n<p>Clean energy is also a win-win solution to recover from\u00a0<a class=\"word-link\" title=\"Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">COVID-19<\/a>\u00a0as it can improve healthcare for the world\u2019s poorest while providing a reliable electricity supply \u2013 imperative for health centres to function.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs COVID-19 vaccines \u2013 some needing to be stored at -70\u00b0C \u2013 get rolled out, powering a sustainable and reliable cold chain will be critical\u201d, Mr. Alers reminded.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, investing in renewables could create\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irena.org\/publications\/2020\/Sep\/Renewable-Energy-and-Jobs-Annual-Review-2020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nearly three times<\/a>\u202fas many jobs as investing in fossil fuels.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the world is rapidly urbanizing, energy efficiency in buildings, sustainable cooling and heating, smart urban planning and sustainable transport options\u2026are key for the future of cities\u201d, he maintained.<\/p>\n<h3>Looking to September<\/h3>\n<p>In September, for the first time in 40 years, the UN will host a\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/conferences\/energy2021\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">High Level Dialogue on Energy<\/a>\u00a0for countries, businesses, civil society and international institutions to step up action on sustainable energy.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/un-energy.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UN-Energy<\/a>\u00a0and UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner recently called for a reinforcement of global energy governance, saying \u201cwe know clean energy can both deliver universal energy access and contribute to tackling the climate crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Although phasing out fossil fuels and transitioning to green economies is a monumental task, Mr. Alers assured that \u201cwe are ready to rise to the challenge\u201d.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is growing momentum to make them political and investment priorities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[43,22,44,26,17,7],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2215"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2218,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215\/revisions\/2218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesisarg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}