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| Fig. 1: Per capita renewable energy generation 2018-2021. [2] (Source: S Chunduru) |
To combat climate change, the world needs to accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources. In addition, the war in Ukraine has impacted energy security and affordability, underscoring the need to add diversity to the energy portfolio by increasing generation from renewable energy sources. Though the international community signed the Paris Agreement in December 2015 and pledged to support renewable energy in order to keep the planet's average temperature well below 2°C, with a goal of trying to keep it at 1.5°C, carbon emissions have increased every year except in 2020, indicating that the commitments to achieve net zero have not made noticeable progress. [1,2]
Global renewable energy generation increased by 16.5% in 2021, accounting for more than 50% of the global increase in electricity generation between 2019 and 2021. [2] Fig. 1 shows 14 countries with the highest renewable energy generation per capita from 2018 to 2021, most of which are located in northern Europe. The fraction of the total electricity generated that came from renewables in 2021 is also high in countries in Northern Europe, with the United Kingdom at 38%, Germany at 37%, and Spain at 35%. [2]
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| Fig. 2: Per capita subsidies for renewable technologies in 2018. [3] (Source: S Chunduru) |
A big factor helping some countries in Northern Europe to take the lead in producing renewable energy is government subsidies. As shown in Fig. 2, in 2018, Germany led in renewable subsidies with €350/capita, followed by Italy at €222/capita, and Spain at €217/capita. [3]
Countries that provide higher renewable energy subsidies per capita have higher renewable generations per capita. Governments in the rest of the world will need policy interventions and financing measures to support the transformation of energy. They will need to adopt comprehensive policies to influence and encourage investment in renewable energy, not only to achieve net zero emissions but also to ensure energy security and affordability. The path to net zero depends on unprecedented global government cooperation, especially on innovation and investment.
© Sohan Chunduru. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] "Paris Agreement," United Nations, 2015.
[2] "Statistical Review of World Energy 2021," British Petroleum, June 2021.
[3] "Final Report Energy Subsidies," European Commission, October 2020.