RenewableNI Director reflects on COP29 and funding climate change
18th Nov 2024
COP29 runs until 22 November in Baku Azerbaijan – an international debate with local impact.
Decisions being made at a global level this week will have consequences closer to home.
The UK Government announced their updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to cut emissions by 81 per cent compared with 1990 levels by 2035. This will mean targets that Northern Ireland will feed into.
COP29 is being referred to as the financial one, as leaders discuss funding for climate change.
As our leaders wrangle over costs, I can’t help but wonder, do we really want to be the first society that didn’t save itself because it wasn’t cost effective?
Weather phenomena are now leaving local people counting the emotional and financial costs. For example, damage to Newry businesses due to flooding and the Department for Economy having to allocate money for an advanced flood support scheme. The Department for Infrastructure is investing in a flood alleviation scheme as weather occurrences are becoming more frequent.
The recent Renewable Rewards report showed that every wind turbine or solar panel connected brings down the costs to the consumer. They are cutting our carbon emissions and providing energy security of supply.
Not investing in renewable electricity infrastructure means buying expensive fossil fuels, an inability to meet demands of heat and transport decarbonisation and missing the 1.5°C warming mark.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated “that crossing the 1.5°C threshold risks unleashing far more severe climate change impacts, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall.
“To limit global warming to 1.5°C, greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 at the latest and decline 43% by 2030.”
We need to consider what that means in Northern Ireland. The Climate Act set a target of 80 per cent renewable electricity generation by 2030. We currently have 1.9GW of renewable capacity, generating almost 50 per cent of the electricity we use. We need to more than double it in the next few years to meet our targets.
Despite the Assembly declaring a climate emergency in 2020, the required urgency from policy makers is not apparent, despite our recent record-breaking weather bringing the consequences home.
The KPMG report Accelerating Renewables revealed 82 per cent of investors don’t currently see NI as an attractive place to invest because of the continuing policy vacuum. This is costing NI the global investment that our neighbours are receiving.
KPMG have highlighted that 100 per cent of the developers they surveyed would invest in NI if the policy issues were addressed.
The good news is that some things have changed since last year’s COP. We once again have an Executive. Ministers from different departments are communicating with each other on the need for reforms.
A renewable electricity support scheme is coming; increased grid investment is coming; we hope that a more facilitative planning policy is coming. Earlier this week we saw the announcement of a ‘Just Transition Commission’ by the DAERA Minister.
During Covid, we saw the speed at which governments can act in times of emergency. Decisions made over the next year will tell us whether our Executive is applying the same urgency to the climate crisis. We cannot afford to fail.
ENDS.
For media inquiries please contact Judith Rance, Communications and Events Manager, RenewableNI, Judith.Rance@RenewableNI.com, 07875-681-794.
Notes to editors
RenewableNI is the voice of the renewable electricity industry. Through the development of policy, best practice and public communications, we represent those engaged in wind, solar and battery storage development. Our members make up a large majority of the renewable industry supply chain in Northern Ireland.
Renewable Rewards: How to save from the switch to renewable electricity and Accelerating Renewables in Northern Ireland are available online.
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