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Renewable Energy Subsidies Were $57 Billion in 2009, IEA Says
2010-11-09 14:10:45.901 GMT
By Alex Morales
Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Global subsidies for renewable energy
totaled $57 billion in 2009, International Energy Agency Chief
Economist Fatih Birol said today, providing the agency's first
estimate of assistance for the industry.
The support compares with $312 billion for fossil fuels in
the same year, mainly in developing countries, Birol told
reporters in London. Support for renewables will rise to $110
billion in 2015, though the industry faces a "challenge" with
many countries trying to cut budget deficits, he said.
"In the absence of government support, many renewable
energy technologies will struggle to survive, especially in a
cheap-gas environment," Birol said. U.S. natural gas futures
last month fell to a 13 month-low.
About $5.7 trillion will be invested in electricity
generation from renewables such as wind and solar power during
the next 25 years, according to the agency's World Energy
Outlook, published today. Government support for the industry
can be justified "by the long term economic, energy security
and environmental benefits they can bring," the agency said.
The IEA's estimate on renewable energy power compares with
$43 billion to $46 billion that Bloomberg New Energy Finance in
July estimated was handed to the industry last year by
governments in the form of grants, tax credits and guaranteed
electricity prices known as feed-in tariffs. The agency
estimated that last year $37 billion of support was given to
electricity from renewable power, and $20 billion to biofuels.
Climate Talks
The agency also said that the non-binding emissions targets
for 2020 agreed by countries including the U.S. and China at
last year's climate talks in Copenhagen "fell a very long way
short of what is required to set the world on the path to a
sustainable energy system."
If implemented, the Copenhagen goals will make it "all but
impossible" to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6
Fahrenheit) since the pre-industrial era, the body said.
The targets added $1 trillion to the price tag of
preventing dangerous increases in temperatures because deeper
and faster emissions cuts will be needed after 2020, the report
said. UN climate talks resume Nov. 29 in Cancun, Mexico.
G-20 leaders, who meet Nov. 11-12 in Seoul, agreed at their
last meeting in Toronto in June that they would work "over the
medium term" to phase out "inefficient fossil fuel subsidies
that encourage wasteful consumption."
The IEA said today that eliminating the subsidies would
"have a dramatic effect" on the global energy system, reducing
emissions and enhancing energy security.
For related News and Information:
Climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Top environment stories: GREEN <GO>
Most-read environmental news: MNI ENV <GO>
Renewable Energy Stories: NI ALTNRG <GO>
--Editors:
To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Morales in London at +44-20-7330-7718 or
amorales2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net
