Nearly 80 percent of the world's energy needs could be met by renewable energy by mid- century, and the renewable sources can play a key role in fighting global warming, a UN spokesman said here Monday.
"Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report that concluded that close to 80 percent of the world's energy
supply could be met by renewable energy sources by the middle of this century, if backed by the right enabling public policies," Farhan Haq,
the UN spokesman, said at a daily press briefing.
"With such policies in place, the world would cut its greenhouse gas emissions by about one third, compared to business- as-usual projections," Haq said. "It could also help to meet the goal of
keeping the rise in the global mean temperature from exceeding two degrees Celsius in the 21st century, a goal recognized by countries in
the Cancun Agreements."
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 1988. Its main objective was to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to the understanding of human induced climate change, potential impacts of climate change and options for mitigation and adaptation.
The thousand-page analysis was approved by government representatives who were attending a May 5-13 meeting of the 194- nation IPCC in Abu
Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Six types of renewable energy accounted in 2008 for 12.9 percent of global energy supply: biomass (10.2 percent), hydro (2. 3 percent), wind (0.2 percent), solar (0.1 percent), geothermal (0. 1 percent) and
ocean (0.002 percent), the report said.
The report also said that a shift to cleaner energies would help cut greenhouse gas emissions, which it blamed for climate change including
floods, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels.