REEEP

Climate and Energy Security - Towards a Low Carbon Economy

Wilton Park, 22.11.2007

Each summer REEEP and Wilton Park organize an event on climate change and energy security. The July 2007 event report is now available for downloading. Below please find the Executive Summary:

The need for a paradigm shift

The world’s GHG emissions are increasing rapidly and it will be very difficult to achieve the substantial, long-term reductions required to avoid an increase of more than 2⁰C which is the level likely to trigger dangerous climate change.   We urgently need an internationally agreed paradigm shift that simultaneously restrains growth in energy demand and provides sufficient, secure energy supply for global economic growth.  This will require:

• Creating markets for low carbon technologies by putting a price on carbon emissions and by enacting different forms of ‘command and control’ regulations and standards. 
• Government support for research, development and deployment to stimulated new low carbon technologies.
• Education and information for consumers and stakeholders which causes substantial behavioural change.
• International collaboration on technology transfer and financing assistance to help developing countries take up low carbon energy supply options.

Carbon pricing:

Carbon pricing can provide strong economic incentives for boosting energy efficiency and the deployment of low carbon energy technologies.

Command and control instruments:

Price incentives have not led to the required efficiency gains.  Command and control instruments must therefore also be used.   These include building codes, appliance standards, portfolio standards and feed-in tariffs.

Supporting Low Carbon Technology Development and Deployment: 

Governments must spend substantial amounts to accelerate the introduction of new technology.   Biofuels, however, have grave drawbacks and only countries with surplus land should deploy them.

The Need for Effective International Collaboration:  

Reducing carbon emissions to prevent dangerous climate change requires international exchange of information on ‘best practices’, R&D co-ordination and technology transfer to the developing world.   A post Koto international framework for this is essential.   Japan has proposed three principles to guide its creation:

• all major emitters must participate, 
• the framework must be flexible and diverse in order to take into consideration the circumstances of each country, and,
• it must achieve compatibility between environmental protection and economic growth by utilising energy conservation and other technologies.

What Next?

We do not have an answer to how the developing world can reduce poverty while global carbon emissions are reduced to avoid dangerous climate change.  It will help if:

• Priority is given to low carbon energy supply over other environmental concerns. 
• There is a strong focus on energy efficiency and establishing the viability of CCS technology as rapidly as possible.

There is a very large gap between the level of effort that countries are currently willing to make to stabilise the climate and what is needed, with no clear way ahead to bridge this gap.   The new energy paradigm requires a ‘rewiring’ of the global economy.  There is considerable optimism about achieving progress towards this paradigm, but pessimism about meeting the ambitious goals needed to develop enough energy supply for global economic growth while stabilising the climate at less than a 2⁰ C temperature increase.

Wilton Park Report - Climate and Energy Security: Towards a Low Carbon Economy