Leading energy firms to support ‘near doubling’ of renewable capacity

16 leading energy firms have launched a joint "scaling up renewables" action plan to support the deployment of 1.5TW of extra capacity by 2025. The firms pledged to remove barriers to large-scale deployment of clean energy, in an effort to clear the way for new projects that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
 
The initiative is part of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Low Carbon Technology Partnership Initiative (WBCSD LCTPi), which gathers businesses to accelerate the development and deployment of large scale clean technology projects.
 
Specific actions include: improving connections between renewables and the grid; encouraging green bond finance by making projects more transparent and reducing risk; working with corporate renewable energy buyers to boost clean energy procurement; and speeding the development of low-carbon micro grids to promote clean energy in remote areas.
 
There is currently about 1.94TW of renewable capacity globally. To meet the International Energy Agency’s projections for a 2C pathway, this must grow to 3.49TW in 2025 and 4.53TW in 2030. Scaling clean energy deployment to this level could generate more than $3.5tr worth of investment and up to 15 million jobs, according to WBCSD.