Big Business Involved in the Fight Against Climate Change


12/18/2015

Negotiators from nearly 200 countries reached an historic agreement on the climate summit in Paris. The world has shown that it is still able to unite against climate change and rising greenhouse gas emissions.



by @NonprofitOrgs
Under the new agreement, the Member States must prevent a global temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius by 2100, and will put maximum efforts in order to keeping it not more than 1.5 degrees.

The agreement reached in Paris gave strongest boost to the renewable energy even despite the fact that emission targets of individual countries are not binding. In addition, the historical events in Paris put "green" associations, such as RE100, in the limelight of the world theater.

RE100 is an alliance formed by 53 companies, which put aims of shifting to use of 100% renewable electricity. The organization includes such corporate giants as Google, Nike, Microsoft and Coca-Cola.

How this will affect the renewables market?

According to recent estimates, is RE100 companies use "clean" energy, it would increase renewable energy consumption by 90.1 TWh/h.

This figure is equivalent to almost 1% of the total electricity consumption worldwide. If 1 th. of the most influential companies join the RE100, the additional demand will amount to 1700 TWh/h.

RE100participants are sending a clear signal that the technological solutions to combat climate change already exist, and the business supports transition to renewable energy sources. This ambitious and robust climate agreement will help accelerate the transition to a 100% surge in future consumption of renewable energy.

Due to its scale, RE100 really can strongly affect the power sector.

However, this is just the beginning, and still it is not clear when the goal will be achieved. In addition, the companies operate around the world. Not all have ability to use renewable energy, and the production cost may increase.

At first, the participants plan to focus simply on access to such energy in their power plants or generators, and then to extend the target for other operations related to logistics and production.

Once this happens, the market will grow. Experts note that the effect may be noticeable in the next 5 years.

The only limitation right now is cheap oil. It enables to produce cost-effective electricity, and it is very difficult for big business to give up the opportunity to reduce costs.

Nevertheless, consequences of the Paris summit go far beyond the agreements between the two countries. Involvement of business in the process of combating climate change is one of the main stages, and it seems to have succeeded.

source: theclimategroup.org