Annual Review 2013 - (Page 14)

Overview SEIZE YOUR POWER With global climate talks stalling, we need a power surge in renewable energy investment, says Samantha Smith, head of our Global Climate and Energy Initiative UN climate negotiations are stuck: they are not delivering the change we need at anything like the speed at which we need it. In Warsaw in November, the world's governments showed such little commitment that, along with NGOs and social movements from every corner of the Earth, we decided our best course of action was to walk out in protest. It was the last thing we wanted to do, and of course we're not walking away from the process - when the talks resume in Lima in December 2014, we'll be pushing harder than ever for a global climate deal. But the need for another approach is clearer than ever. The solution to avoiding dangerous climate change is practical, possible and necessary: we have to switch from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy as soon as possible. And that's what our Seize Your Power campaign is about. The energy investments we make over the next few years will largely determine whether we can avoid catastrophic climate change in the long term. So we're challenging governments, financial institutions and pension funds to kick the fossil fuel habit and instead channel an additional US$40 billion into renewable energy by 2017. WE HAVE TO SWITCH FROM FOSSIL FUELS TO CLEAN, RENEWABLE ENERGY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE Change is happening - and that extra US$40 billion could tip the balance. New investments in renewable electricity already surpass those in oil, coal and gas. Despite the lack of a global climate agreement, around 140 countries now have renewable energy targets, providing more certainty for investors. In China, renewables already make up more than half the new power capacity being installed. South Africa invested around 1 per cent of its GDP into renewable energy in 2012. In parts of India, solar power - which has created more than 100,000 jobs - is as cheap as coal. In a significant development this year, the World Bank committed to phasing out funding for new coal power plants except in rare circumstances. The European Investment Bank, the world's largest public financial institution, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development soon followed suit. In the US, San Francisco and Seattle were among 10 cities that pledged to drop fossil fuels from their pension funds. Meanwhile, it's beginning to dawn on investors that fossil fuel companies' assets may be dangerously over-inflated. If the world is to have any chance of keeping climate change within safe limits, then around four-fifths of listed fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground - making them effectively worthless. A clean energy future is possible. And it must start now. PLAY SLIDE SHOW WWF-INT Annual Review 2013 page 14 http://www.panda.org/syp

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Annual Review 2013

Contents

Annual Review 2013

https://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2023
https://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2022
https://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2021
https://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/tcops
https://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/60th_anniversary
https://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2020
https://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/freshwater_fishes_report
https://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/ghost_gear_report
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/covid19_report
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2019
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2018
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/livingplanet_summary
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/livingplanet_full
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/conversation_strategy
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2017
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2015
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2013
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/dalbergreport2013-de
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/dalbergreport2013-fr
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/dalbergreport2013
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwf_france/rapport_dactivite_2011-2012
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/wwfintl/annualreview2012
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