The Global 100% Renewable Energy Coalition today called at the UN climate summit upon national governments to commit to 100% renewable energy targets and strategies. According to a joint statement from the coalition, “communicating and proving the urgency and feasibility of 100% renewable energy is key to breaking the climate deadlock.” Members of the coalition including World Wind Energy Association, World Bioenergy Association and the Fraunhofer ISE Institute criticized “the ongoing stagnancy of the climate negotiations and their struggle to agree upon and implement measures that effectively combat the climate crisis.” The organizations applauded the fact that „local, regional and national governments across the world are leading way.” 

According to the coalition, communities, regions and countries from the US to Europe and Australia are already celebrating their recent transition to 100% renewable energy in energy supply. “The growing global movement shows that making the transition to 100% RE is primarily a political — not technical – challenge. The necessary technologies and knowledge already exist today,” says Stefan Gsänger, Secretary General of World Wind Energy Association. In the Energiewende frontrunner Germany, a national network of 100% RE regions includes 74 regions and municipalities that have already reached 100% RE. Entire nations like Denmark, Iceland, Scotland, Costa Rica, Maldives Islands, Cook Islands, Tuvalu, and Tokelau have set and already partly achieved this ambitious target.

“Climate change debates have become all too often associated with failing political negotiations and inadequate actions. Messaging is criticized for being long on problems and short on solutions. There is an urgent need to change this,” says Heinz Kopetz, President World Bioenergy Association.

The global alliance of civil society organizations, industry and academia founded the first global initiative that advocates 100% RE in order to connect the fragmented dots of renewable energy advocates and inspire change by showcasing good examples.

“The more organizations and institutions support this initiative, the stronger the impact on policy makers to heed this global movement. In many countries there seems to be a verbal consensus on the necessity of ambitious climate change mitigation policies without a convincing perspective of the necessary policy decisions to be reached in due time. One answer in breaking the inertia is the robust, global campaign for 100% renewable energy,” says Anna Leidreiter, Coordinator of the Global 100% Renewable Energy Campaign and Policy Officer at the World Future Council.

As the recently published IPCC report highlights, burning of fossil resources is the main reason behind a 40% increase in CO2 concentrations since the industrial revolution. The world's leading scientists not only call for a cap on greenhouse gas emissions, but also identify sustainable and efficient energy systems as the prerequisite for achieving the internationally agreed upon climate protection target.