by Myrna Velasco December 8, 2015
Paris, France – Banks and other
institutional investors are called upon to substantially increase lending
portfolio for energy efficiency ventures as one of the core measures to keep
global temperature rise within the two degrees Celsius goal.
In an Energy Day convened by the
Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4All) and the International
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21)
Climate Conference here, it was emphasized that while “action is coalescing on
several fronts to bridge investment gap”, much more must be done to push
forward energy efficiency as well as the other interlinked targets in pursuing
transformational change in energy systems – including those on energy access
and renewable energy.
SE4All, a multi-stakeholder
partnership backed by the United Nations and the World Bank, has asserted “a
step-change in financing will be crucial” for these labeled sustainable energy
undertakings.
It has estimated that investments in
sustainable energy “will need to triple from current levels, to more than
US$1.0-trillion a year from now to 2030,” to meet targets corresponding to the
UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
At least one major positive
development toward that end had been the commitment of some 140 banks and
institutional investors “to a major increase in energy efficiency lending and
investment in their portfolios.”
According to Rachel Kyte, incoming
chief executive officer of SE4All and special representative of the UN
Secretary General, the initial developments including pledges from countries of
both the developing and the developed world have just been “the tip of the
iceberg”, while noting that “the potential is vast, but it won’t be realized
without a massive scaling up of the kind of action to levels far beyond what we
have seen so far.”
She added “in the next few years, we
have a historic window of opportunity to shake up business-as-usual…but unless
we grab that opportunity, the window will quickly close.”
In particular, energy efficiency
ventures – also known as the ‘hidden fuel’, could potentially contribute “up to
half the savings in greenhouse gas emissions needed to keep the global
temperature rise to less than 2 degrees.”
While scaling up on the energy
efficiency movement, the access to electricity of some 1.1 billion people in
the world has also been highlighted and prodded for intensified investment
support.
These two measures alongside the
need to explore cleaner ways of producing energy have been given weight, as
SE4All indicated that the energy sector is “responsible for 60-percent of
current greenhouse gas emissions – and more efficient ways to distribute and
use it, is central to the fight against climate change.”
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