Originally published on BusinessGreen
Just over three years ago, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shed a light on a painful reality – the economic and energy security risks associate with the world’s continued dependency on fossil fuel. The spike in energy prices and the impact on supplies because of the war left even distant governments scrambling for solutions.
But there were positive side-effects. The crisis pushed countries, including the UK, to revise their energy strategies. The Biden administration implemented its long-awaited Inflation Reduction Act, and the EU doubled down on its European Green Deal.
We face new crises now, multiple conflicts at the same time - civil, geopolitical, and trade. It’s leading to economic instability against the backdrop of a climate crisis that spares no one, and a US Federal Government that is stepping back from the push for a safer, greener planet.
This is the context against which world leaders will attend the 60-country energy security summit in London this week, co-hosted by the International Energy Agency. It’s too bad that at this critical moment, China will not be there – the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gas, but also biggest producer of clean energy should have a seat at the table.
The key question however, remains regardless of who is attending: how can countries safeguard their energy security in time of shifting markets and volatile energy prices, and in a way that doesn’t wreck the planet? What does future-proofed energy security look like, in practice?
Going fully renewable
As we’re entering an era of trade disruptions in everything from basic commodities to high tech electronics, we also need to look at what energy security could mean for the 143 countries who are net importers of fossil fuels.
Taking a holistic approach, we need a framework that captures the most cost-effective and sustainable solutions to energy security – and helps reduce dependencies on volatile global oil and gas markets. In a statement to the governments attending the summit, a coalition of businesses and civil society organisations including Climate Group and the Global Renewable Alliance laid out the foundations for such a framework.
It starts with renewables. Wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower, complemented by battery storage and possibly other emerging technologies such as green hydrogen. Governments need to urgently break down barriers that prevent this transition from happening, and the energy needs to be affordable and accessible to all.
Secondly, most countries in the world need to drastically upgrade their grids, to be able to cope with the increasing electricity demand of an electrifying world. That is not optional – it's key.
And then there are the clean energy supply chains. Countries need to build resilient, transparent supply chains to ensure their clean technology can continue to function at scale and speed, without being dependent on one single country for their supplies.
Of course, that comes with an up- and reskilling of a country’s workforce, to ensure it evolves with the technology and people don’t miss out on the opportunities of the transition. And that’s not just a pipe-dream: the Global Wind Energy Council estimates that the installation of an additional 470 GW of wind capacity between 2021 and 2025 could generate over 3.3 million jobs globally over the 25-year operational lifespan of these projects – most of those are local jobs.
Finally, we need to acknowledge the urgency of our task, with the climate crisis increasing with every day we wait, wreaking havoc on economies and lives. Wind and solar power offer the fastest route to meeting rising electricity demand. Instead of decades of waiting for new nuclear plants to come on-line, renewable capacity can be installed in months, with supportive regulations.
There’s more to it of course, as countries for example also need to ensure their systems are safe from outside threats like cyberattacks or warlike conflicts.
Countries that get this right, will safeguard their independence and competitiveness, and provide cheaper energy for their citizens to boot. That’s critical, in a world that is increasingly unstable and is facing increased insecurity as climate change impacts hit.
The UK is already on its way, and leading in some areas. According to a recent Ember report, electrification in the UK replaced the equivalent of 14 million barrels of oil in 2023. This involved introducing 1.5 million electric vehicles and 430,000 heat pumps in homes. The Ember report goes on to show that electrification reduces the UK’s fossil fuel demand four times more than the electricity demand it creates.
Businesses are backing this transition too. A survey among close to 1,500 medium and large businesses across 15 countries, commissioned by the We Mean Business Coalition, E3G and Beyond Fossil Fuels, was published yesterday.
It revealed that 97% of business leaders support moving away from coal and other fossil fuels, and a further 78% is supportive of the transition to a renewable based electricity system by 2035 – or sooner. see the competitive advantage of going clean; half of the business leaders who responded say they will relocate their operations (52%) and supply chains (49%) to markets with better access to renewables-based power systems within five years.
The Summit on the Future of Energy Security has an ambitiously packed agenda. But an agenda, in the end, will need implementation. If the 2022 energy crisis taught us anything, it’s the urgent need for a reliable and secure energy supply. And renewables are the foundation to that – there is no other way.
Credit: Business Green