First Lead Author Meeting on IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation a success

From January 26th to 30th 2009 the 1st Author Meeting for the Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation took place in São José dos Campos in Brazil. The meeting was held by Working Group III (Mitigation of Climate Change) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Co-Chairs Youba Sokona, Ottmar Edenhofer and Ramon Pichs (2nd, 3rd and 4th left) participate in a CLA meeting

Over 100 nominated scientists from all over the world are involved in drafting a report on the state of renewable energies and their future potential in the mitigation of climate change. The report will cover the six major areas of renewable resource use, the question of the complex system integration of renewable energy sources and questions of environmental and social impacts. Furthermore, the report will develop policies to overcome technical and non-technical barriers for the deployment of renewable energies and policies leading to the rapid scale-up of renewable energy systems and the significant growth of renewable energies.

The IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) has shown the urgency of the climate crisis and that, in association with energy efficiency measures, renewable energy sources can make a substantial contribution to climate change mitigation. These results need to be reflected in policies and measures by governments around the world. Since the publication of the AR4 in 2007 many governments as well as important stakeholders from civil society and the private sector have asked for more substantial information and broader coverage of all questions regarding the use of renewable energy sources. The special report aims to answer these questions.

According to the AR4, renewable energies will play a key role in the mitigation of climate change. Recent studies have shown that costs of mitigation increase sharply in scenarios refraining from the use of further renewables and that low stabilization goals can only be met with a significant share of renewables.

The authors of the report face various challenges. There is an increasing number of emission trading schemes and other systems promoting renewables around the world. These systems will need to be explored and assessed regarding their effect on the deployment and costs of renewables. Further, the authors will need to investigate how the reliability of intermittent renewables can be increased and how renewables can be integrated into existing energy systems. Another area of investigation will be the incorporation of renewables into urban and rural development.

The goal of the special report on renewables is to explore the technological feasibility and economic potential of renewables and to assess their social acceptability, risks and uncertainties. The scientist involved aim to explore opportunities and synergies, make trade-offs explicit, identify knowledge gaps and develop guidelines on how to design policy instruments and incentives. The inspiring first lead author meeting proved a highly successful start to this process. The participating scientist left in high spirits, determined to further this project.