LONDON (Reuters) – Asset homeowners managing greater than $10.4 trillion have urged governments to not let worries about safety of fossil gasoline provides impede the transition to greener vitality wanted to restrict catastrophic local weather change.
With governments scrambling to switch Russian oil and gasoline provides after the invasion of Ukraine, United Nations local weather scientists issued new warnings this week on the necessity to rapidly scale up renewable vitality and roll again assist for emissions-intensive fossil fuels.
The Steering Group of the Web-Zero Asset Proprietor Alliance, which counts a few of the world’s largest pension schemes and insurers as members, mentioned on Friday that vitality safety insurance policies should align with the world’s local weather purpose.
That purpose, set within the Paris Settlement, goals to cap world warming at 1.5 levels Celsius above the pre-industrial stage by 2050, and would require drastic near-term cuts in fossil gasoline use.
“The world remains to be heading for an extra of fossil fuel-based vitality use that may vastly exceed the carbon budgets wanted to satisfy the 1.5C Paris Settlement purpose. This development have to be halted,” the investor group mentioned.
The group known as for an finish to utilizing taxpayer money to prop up the fossil gasoline business via subsidies that go in opposition to the pledges made by governments to get to net-zero emissions.
“Within the quick time period, utilizing all obtainable vitality assets – together with the quick scaling of vitality effectivity – to diversify vitality provide have to be a prime precedence for a lot of nations, particularly in Europe,” the group mentioned.
Unit prices for photo voltaic vitality and lithium-ion batteries have each fallen by round 85%, whereas wind vitality prices are down 55%, the investor group mentioned.
“These are viable steps in the direction of vitality system resilience, a greener economic system, the availability of inexperienced jobs, and the safety of companies and shoppers in opposition to future worth spikes in oil and gasoline,” the buyers mentioned.
Reporting by Simon Jessop in London; Modifying by David Gregorio
