The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that nearly 50% of global electricity supplies will have to come from renewable energy sources if we want to halve CO₂ emissions by 2050 in order to minimise significant and irreversible climate change impacts. This is a huge challenge and part of the entire energy revolution we need to achieve, it says.

"Meeting these very ambitious objectives will require unprecedented political commitment and effective policy design and implementation. Only a limited set of countries have implemented effective support policies for renewables and there is a large potential for improvement," said Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the IEA today in Berlin at the launch of the new study, Deploying Renewables: Principles for Effective Policies. Several countries have made important progress in recent years in fostering renewables, with renewable energy markets expanding considerably as a result. However, much more can and should be done at the global level - in OECD member countries, large emerging economies and other countries - to address the urgent need of transforming our unsustainable energy present into a clean and secure energy future.

In the publication, the IEA, which is the energy adviser to developed countries, including Ireland, has for the first time carried out a comparative analysis of the performance of the various renewables promotion policies around the world.

Carbon Emissions on Rise:

In 2007, carbon released from burning fossil fuels and producing cement increased 2.9% over that released in 2006, to a total of 8.47 gigatons, or billions of metric tons, according to the Australia-based Global Carbon Project(server was down Monday), an international consortium of scientists that tracks emissions. Developing nations have roughly doubled their carbon output in less than two decades and now account for slightly more than half of total emissions, according to the new figures, up from about a third in 1990. By contrast, total carbon emissions from industrialized nations are only slightly higher than in 1990.

The study encompasses 35 countries, including - all OECD members and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), and addresses the three relevant sectors electricity production, heating and transport. In 2005, these 35 countries accounted for 80% of total global commercial renewable electricity generation, 77% of commercial renewable heating/cooling (excluding the use of traditional biomass) and 98% of renewable transport fuel production.

The report shows that there are still significant barriers which hamper a swift expansion and increase the costs of accelerating renewables' transition into the mainstream. "If these were removed, it would allow the great potential of renewables to be exploited much more rapidly and to a much larger extent," Tanaka emphasised. Governments need to do more Tanaka continued. "Setting a carbon price is not enough. To foster a smooth and efficient transition of renewables towards mass market integration, renewable energy policies should be designed around a set of fundamental principles, inserted into predictable, transparent and stable policy frameworks and implemented in an integrated approach."

Renewable policy design should reflect five key principles:

EmissionZero Ireland

EmissionZero - which is claimed to be the first ever fully fledged Irish system for the general public to offset their carbon emissions is now operating in the Irish market. The website is at: www.emissionzero.ie. EmissionZero is a newly launched division of the Irish ‘green’ cement manufacturer Ecocem. The website offers the opportunity to measure, reduce and offset the carbon dioxide created by a user’s home, car miles or air miles. The carbon offsets, or Verified Emissions Reductions, available through the website, are validated and verified to the highest applicable standard, the Voluntary Carbon Standard, by the independent, UN accredited auditors SGS. Generated through the production of low carbon cement in Ireland, each of these offsets represents a reduction in CO2 of one tonne. For every tonne of ‘green’ cement that Ecocem produces, it says it eliminates the emission of approximately one tonne of CO2 through the displacement by the construction industry of traditional cement. The use of Ecocem’s green cement permanently displaces the carbon that would have been embodied in buildings and other infrastructure and thereby creates carbon offsets. The company has stressed that people’s first priority should be to measure and actively reduce their carbon footprint before considering buying offsets. However, the purchase of validated and verified offsets thereafter is a valid and productive method of supporting the development of environmentally sustainable industrial practices in the economy and protecting the environment from greenhouse gas emissions. The flight calculator, powered by technology company TRX, is of particular interest as it allows the user to find the most efficient airline between two points, in terms of fuel consumption and the number of travellers availing of flights. The company says that the calculator was recently declared the no.1 such facility in the world by the Stockholm Institute for the Environment. EmissionZero says it has also been working with Irish businesses to reduce their impact on the environment, according to their environmental policy of “measure, reduce and offset”. Clients include Google, retailer Hughes & Hughes and events like the Electric Picnic and the Irish Sustainable Building Show, among others. Conor O’Riain, Business Development Manager of EmissionZero commented: “The EmissionZero team aim to provide entities in Ireland, be it a business or an individual, with the tools and information to reduce their impact on Climate Change. By investing in Verified Emission Reductions generated in Ireland, we can all contribute to the development of technology that will have a substantial impact on Irish CO2emissions.