Renewable energy still cannot halt climate change

Renewable energy is growing at a record level in many countries around the globe and also the use of energy sources is becoming more and more efficient. But how much does this actually count in our fight against climate change? Very little, because carbon dioxide emissions still continue to grow even despite these measures. Why is that?

The main reason why renewable energy and improved energy efficiency aren't able to halt the growth in carbon emissions is the ever-increasing demand for power and transport, which is the strongest in developing countries such as China and India.

The economic boom in developing countries craves for more power and transport to keep it going and most of this power and transport comes from the fossil fuels because renewable energy, despite its remarkable growth in the last ten years, is still a minor source of energy when compared to coal, oil and natural gas.

Something needs to change in global climate policy but this so much needed change in global climate policy is nowhere to be seen on the horizon because world leaders still cannot agree on new climate deal. The climate talks have so far been anything but successful because there is still no consensus between the developed and the developing world about what our next step should be.

All eyes are set on US and China, two largest carbon emitters in the world. China is overall leader in carbon dioxide emissions while US is the largest CO2 emitter per capita by emitting 16.9 tonnes CO2 per capita, two and the half time as much as China at 6.8 tonnes per capita.

The transition to renewable is still not going as fast as it should go. Not only that, the majority of energy analysts agree that fossil fuels will remain dominant energy sources till at least 2050, which in business as usual scenario means that the climate change will reach the point of no return (the global temperature increase of two degrees Celsius).

This will account for frequent extreme weather events such as tsunamis and hurricanes, cause global sea level rise, drought, floods, hunger, new diseases and millions of refugees.

World leaders are still not taking the threat of climate change seriously. It seems like they believe they have all the time in the world to do something about it. The truth is that the time for action has almost run out. No more talks, give us the necessary action. Please.

Clean energy key to climate change success

Climate change talks have failed miserably in Copenhagen, and since there's obviously not enough political will to agree legally binding international climate deal something else must be done instead. A global push for more clean energy looks to be one of the best solutions.

International bodies such as UN should be doing much more to support clean energy by monitoring the situation regarding investments in new renewable energy projects, by establishing some guidelines under which the commitment of each country to go for clean energy would be judged, all in order to ensure global "clean energy revolution".

Many countries are pushing for more renewable energy but world is still lacking global renewable energy goals, there are still no global monitoring mechanisms, and there is no international body that would help countries achieve their clean energy targets.

There are still many differences between developed and developing world, and these differences are the major stumbling block that prevents world from agreeing new international climate deal.

Each country promotes its own political and economic interests, and with so many different interests global climate deal looks impossible. But there's also one interest that all countries will likely support, namely more clean energy to satisfy our energy needs.

So why not go global with it?