2018 was a watershed year for renewables. Globally, green energy usage surged and especially in Germany where wind, solar and biomass surpassed coal consumption: 40% of all electricity generated — a marked step forward as the country strives to hit 65% by 2030. Coal, though, still made up 38% there, while natural gas and nuclear power comprise the rest.
The United States, by comparison, has withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement while it has weakened the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan that aims to cut heat-trapping releases by 32% by 2030. America, which is the globe’s biggest CO2 contributor, has instead chosen to try and buttress its sinking coal sector. Energy markets there are choosing less carbon-intensive rules, however, those policies are undercutting global efforts.
In fact, climate scientists fear that temperature increases could exceed the goals set by the 2015 Paris agreement: keeping such rises to more than 2 degrees Celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit by mid century, from pre-industrial levels. The concern is that those thresholds would be eviscerated and climb to as high as 4 -5 degrees Celsius and 7 degrees Fahrenheit.
“We are seeing a stirring of new climate policies in the real world: if this were extended and scaled up, these combined efforts could actually begin to bend the emissions curve,” said Yvonne Deng of Ecofys/ Navigant Consulting.
She is speaking on behalf of the Climate Action Tracker, which says that Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States are the laggards. The organization also says that South Africa and Chile are addressing their coal dependence while India has become a global leader in advancing green energy. It adds that 10 of the 28 members of the European Union have goals to phase out their coal usage, including Spain that is closing 26 coal mines.
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