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SUSTAINABLE ENERGY 085“ CURRENT MARKET AND REGULATORY CONDITIONS CANNOT DRIVE THE GLOBAL DEPLOYMENT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY AT THE SPEED THAT IS REQUIRED”The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Scaling Up Renewables initiative brings together 16 major energy and technology companies – together representing approximately 10 per cent of global installed electricity capacity – to develop action plans that will break down policy and regulatory barriers and accelerate the deployment of renewable energy. The work is a key part of the Low Carbon Technology Partnerships initiative (LCTPi), a ground-breaking programme that brings together over 150 businesses and 70 NGOs, government bodies, cities and other partners from around the globe to accelerate the development of low-carbon technology solutions. Members of the Scaling Up Renewables initiative believe that the required near-doubling of renewable energy capacity by 2025 can be achieved through LCTPi. Working collaboratively and in consultation with policymakers and regulators, the companies will address barriers that currently prevent the widespread uptake of renewable energy that is necessary. This will be achieved through four key action areas:■ Facilitating efficient, reliable, effective and commercially viable integration of renewable energy into grids and electricity markets; ■ Facilitating the significant scaling up of finance for renewables by exploring new investment vehicles and de-risking project pipelines;■ Working with corporate renewable energy buyers to scale renewable energy procurement and substitute demand towards renewable energy;■ Promoting sustainable electrification of remote areas via accelerated deployment of low-carbon micro-grids.In the post-Paris world, LCTPi demonstrates the importance of collaboration. The 150 companies and 70 partners are collaborating to deliver transformational solutions to the climate challenge that could never be delivered by a single company acting on its own. An independent impact analysis by PwC shows that the nine existing LCTPi plans could deliver up to 65 percent of the emissions reduction necessary to stop the world from warming beyond 2°C. New technologies also require trillions of green investment dollars to be directed into the new low-carbon economy. To this effect, LCTPi could stimulate between US$5 and 10 trillion of investment into the low-carbon economy while creating between 25 and 45 million jobs around the world each year. Business is, therefore, the best implementation partner for governments around the world as they begin to translate their climate commitments into tangible actions. National and local governments can and should turn to business – the world’s most powerful economic force – and use this capability to help make their emissions reduction targets a reality. This element of partnership is vital. Business has taken the lead in technological development. In many cases the technologies are also commercially available.However, success also depends on urgent action by governments, both at the local and global level. Current market and regulatory conditions cannot drive the global deployment of renewable energy technology at the speed that is required. There is no “silver bullet” from either technology or policy. Policies need to be tailored to match national contexts, and to put renewable technologies on a level playing field with conventional ones. Critically, governments need to work together across the globe, to address this inherently global challenge. The proposed financial commitments of the COP 21 agreement must be efficiently and effectively mobilised and private sector funds must be leveraged in order to fully finance the required transformation. Business will continue to innovate and invest in renewable energy and will continue to collaborate to break down barriers. Business, government and other stakeholders must work together to create a policy environment that encourages and supports the massive and essential investment in renewable energy infrastructure. Now is the time to turn ambition into action. Between today and 2020 we can significantly bend downwards the curve of global emissions, even before the Agreement is expected to come into effect.To this end, collaboration both within the private sector and between the private and public sectors is as crucial as ever in 2016 and beyond. It will accelerate the deployment of renewable energy technology around the world, and drive the transformation that will help us achieve the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement. ■ABOUT THE AUTHORPeter Bakker is the President and CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Mr Bakker is a distinguished business leader who, until June 2011, was the CEO of TNT NV, the Netherlands-based holding company of TNT Express and Royal TNT Post. Under his leadership TNT rose to the forefront of corporate responsibility via a ground-breaking partnership with the UN World Food Programme and ambitious CO2 reduction targets from its Planet Me initiative, holding multiple-year top-ranking positions in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Mr Bakker is the recipient of Clinton Global Citizen Award (2009); SAM Sustainability Leadership Award (2010); and has been an Ambassador Against Hunger for the UN World Food Programme since 2011. References1 T1 REN21, 2015, http://www.ren21.net/status-of-renewables/global-status-report/ 2 IEA Energy Technology Perspectives (ETP) 20153 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-04/solar-energy-is-cheapest-source-of-power-in-chile-deutsche-says 4 http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/jordan-solar-tender-confirms-6c-8ckwh-as-new-solar-benchmark-75006; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-29/mexico-first-power-auction-awards-1-720-megawatts-of-wind-solar 5 http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/68837.