Editorial - Articles
| Time for a New Green Deal, call for immediate action! |
| Date: 5-Jan-2009 |
Drawing its inspiration from Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, which ended the 1930’s Great Depression and set up the world economy for the unprecedented growth of the 2nd half of last century, top economists from the UN - and increasingly from around the world - are shaping what will be known as the Green New Deal.
Time is of the essence
Over the last quarter of a century, World growth has doubled but 60% of natural resources which provide food, energy, and clean air have been seriously degraded. The urgency of resuming the financial and global economic crisis has not altered the imperative to design solutions addressing the triple crisis of food, energy and climate. With the near bankruptcy of the major pillars of our traditional economy – e.g. Finance, Construction and Automotive – we need nothing less than to reinvent our economy.
There is an enormous opportunity to ride on the pressing global demand for environmental improvement and turn it into a driver for economic growth, job creation, and eradication of poverty.
This is the essence of the New Green Deal we are calling for.
Lord Nicholas Stern, on the occasion of the presentation in Brussels of McKinsey’s report “Pathways to a Low-Carbon Economy” stressed again the urgency of restructuring our economies around the new world imperatives. The essence, size and structure of green stimulus packages must be decided now.
The conclusions of the report are clear. Reaching GHG abatements that would keep global warming below 2°C - a limit above which major irreversible changes to our ecosystems are expected to occur with unprecedented consequences for our civilizations - is still possible but requires immediate action. An action that will need to leverage all available technologies, across all sectors, throughout all countries around the globe.
PV, a centerpiece of a low carbon economy
In this study, PV, amongst other technologies, stands in a very favourable position, providing significant abatement potential at a medium cost.
Commissioner Janez Potocnik, who was also hosting the discussion, stressed the commitment of EU in achieving this transformation. The Strategic Energy Technology Plan (Set Plan) will be the cornerstone of EU’s strategy to transform our energy future. As a result of the dynamism of our Industry, Commissioner Potocnik also confirmed the Solar Europe Initiative (SEI) to be one of the only two SET initiatives to be launched this year already.
Call for immediate action from the PV community
At this very moment, EPIA, in close interaction with the industry, is concluding its SET For 2020 study, a strategic study conducted with the Consulting firm AT Kearney, defining the roadmap for accelerated PV penetration.
Based on this roadmap, EPIA is now calling the industry, and the sector in general, to take an active role in fully leveraging the SET Plan opportunity and to engage in concrete projects that will accelerate the adoption of PV as a mainstream energy source in tomorrow’s low carbon economies.
A. El Gammal |
| Source: EPIA |
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