UN Says that Renewable Energy Sources Could Provide 77% of World’s Energy

We all know by now how harmful greenhouse gas emissions can be to our environment and to our health. Our current energy systems in place do not fully take advantage of renewable sources of energy. And according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we as a global society could potentially reduce our reliance on greenhouse gasses substantially by the year 2050. That is, as long as governments can afford to invest more in renewable forms of energy, such as solar and wind power.

Right now, the IPCC is reporting that only 13 percent of the world's energy supply is coming from renewable sources. Therefore, a jump to 77 percent is quite drastic. Ramon Pichs Madgruga, a member of the IPCC, said "The report shows that it is not the availability of the resource, but the public policies that will either expand or constrain renewable energy development over the coming decades."

According to a New York Times article on the topic, "To reach the goal of generating nearly 80 percent of the world's energy from those same sources would require investments by governments and the private sector amounting to $5.1 trillion through 2020, and nearly $7.2 trillion between 2021 and 2030." To many individuals, these figures may seem insane; this is a very large amount of money. How well governments across the globe will be able to meet these expectations is unclear. However, the benefits are much more obvious.

If the world's countries were able to achieve this goal, the results would be quite honestly amazing. The biggest advantage to switching over to these renewable forms of energy would be cleaner air for everyone. Cleaner air would mean overall better public health. Additionally, with less greenhouse gasses being emitted into the air, the increase in global temperature would be held to below two degrees Celsius. This would have a huge impact on the slowing and prevention of global warming.

Just knowing that these results are achievable from an environmental standpoint is phenomenal. However, from a political standpoint things do not look as bright. According to Ottmar Edenhofer, who serves as a member on the IPCC, a "substantial increase of renewables is technically and politically very challenging." To make such huge progress on this issue would require worldwide responsibility and cooperation-- every country would have to take steps toward cleaning up.