Press release - June 4, 2004
Following the largest ever inter-governmental meeting on renewable energy, held in Bonn over the past four days, Greenpeace described the event as a significant step but warned that the outcomes lacked the political will and urgency required to prevent dangerous climate change.
The sun has just cracked the horizon on the dawn of the
renewable energy revolution but has a long way to go yet, said
Steve Sawyer, Greenpeace International´s political director.
Bonn has shown that renewable energy is on track to become a
major global energy provider, backed by civil society, the business
community, consumers, and trade unions. Unfortunately, most of the
rapid growth in the industry in recent years is as a result of the
policies of a handful of governments. The list of countries is now
growing, but not fast enough.
Most Governments acknowledge that renewable energy is the only
way to prevent dangerous climate change but they are still not
giving renewable energy the necessary political, fiscal and
regulatory framework required, said Sawyer.
At the Johannesburg Earth Summit in 2002, when German
Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, offered to host the conference he
challenged governments to come to Bonn with real new projects and
real new money for renewable energies.
A number of significant steps have been taken in Bonn, most
notably by China, whose leadership will give the renewable energy
revolution an enormous boost. The Philippines and Egypt have set
strong national renewable energy targets; and Spain and Denmark
appear to be following suit. And the host country Germany´s strong
political and financial support for renewable energy continues.
However, the majority of industrialized nations fell well short.
There is little new money.
The European Union must take clear leadership. It should have
brought a clear commitment to produce at least 20% of its energy
from renewables by 2020, but instead brought confusion and a list
of existing projects and policies, said Sawyer.