Page 62 - Frontier Technologies to Protect the Environment and Tackle Climate Change

Frontier Technologies to Protect the Environment and Tackle Climate Change

d. Clean energy technology for renewable electricity generation to help reduce
fossil fuel consumption

The term ‘Clean energy technologies’ is often used synonymously with renewable energy technologies
that enable the creation of electricity, heat and fuel from renewable sources, such as solar, wind,
hydro, wave and tidal power, heat-exchange/geothermal and bioenergy. The British Columbia (BC)
Sustainable Energy Association in Canada succinctly conveys the importance of these technologies in
the context of climate change as follows: ‘These technologies allow us to heat and cool our buildings,
generate electricity, and to travel by land, sea, and potentially also by air without generating dangerous
greenhouse gases and other forms of pollution.’ 182

The role of renewable and clean energies has also been explored in detail in the UN Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s 2011 special report on ‘Renewable Energy Sources and Climate
Change Mitigation.’ The report builds on the coverage of renewable energy from IPCC’s 2007 climate
change assessment report and highlights cost savings in comparison to non-renewable energy by
concluding: ‘Renewable energy can contribute to social and economic development, energy access,
secure energy supply, climate change mitigation, and the reduction of negative environmental and
health impacts.’ 183

Progress in clean energy technologies is particularly important considering the existing energy
consumption trends compiled by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other
UN bodies (as seen in Box 13).

While clean and renewable energy technologies have existed for a long time, their design and efficacy
have evolved over the decades. Solar energy, wind energy, and battery energy storage technologies,
in particular, have seen some measure of success across the world. 184 , 185 The International Renewable
Energy Agency (IRENA) in its Renewable Capacity Statistics 2019 report found that ‘Strong gains in solar
and wind energy… have pushed renewable energy to… account for a third of global power capacity’
with these two sources alone accounting for 84 per cent of the growth in 2018. 186

Similarly, the International Energy Agency (IEA) Energy Technology Perspectives 2017 report also
concluded that three clean technologies of solar, wind and battery power, are the only ones being
deployed rapidly enough to address climate change effectively. Solar and wind power are fast becoming

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