Politicians make the policy. But it’s often left to business to implement it. For this reason RioPlus Business is featuring submissions from business across the globe in the lead up to Rio+20.
The aim is to demonstrate how Sustainable Development is becoming a reality on every continent, country and city.
Today Måns Nilsson, Deputy Director at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) talks us through the “Energy for All in the Antropocene” study and explains how an unprecedented energy transition is needed over the next decade to meet the world’s energy needs for economic development by 2050, while at the same time staying within a 2°C target and within environmental and resource constraints.
Today we talk about basic energy for the poor. In our study we look at the issue from a more far-reaching energy-use and a long-term perspective, when developing country economies start growing.
As energy needs grow further, we need to reduce energy in rich countries and redistribute energy use globally.
Sustainable energy for all is one of the major development challenges globally. It will hopefully be discussed thoroughly at Rio+20.
What are the main challenges to this transition?
One obstacle is the coal; it is cheap and heavily subsidized. Another obstacle is that investments in energy are long-term, the investments we make today hold for 40 years.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that we are already locking us into a 4-degree world. This is the reason why it is so urgent.
How large are subsidies for fossil fuels, compared to investments in renewable energy?
Annual investments in [...]
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