A World of Opportunity
As governments around the world embrace the need for significant
cuts in carbon emissions,
the opportunities for cleaner energy production have never been
greater.
The scientific evidence is clear: climate change is a serious
threat, it is human-induced and it requires an urgent global
response. Avoiding a dangerous rise in global temperatures requires
at least a 60 per cent cut in global greenhouse emissions on
current levels by 2050.
With global electricity demand expected to double over the next
two decades, it is vital that the power sector - the biggest
contributor to global warming - moves quickly from its current
reliance on fossil fuels to a cleaner, more sustainable mix
of clean energy sources.
By 2040, half of the world's energy supply could come from clean
sources. Renewable energy power plants can be rapidly deployed on a
large scale in every country of the world and are now universally
recognised as essential to a low-carbon future.
Policy makers around the globe are pushing for an expansion in
the use of these cleaner energy sources as an essential strategy to
ending the link between economic expansion and the emission of
greenhouse gases. Already, almost one hundred countries have
introduced renewable energy policies or targets, a move which has
seen investment in the sector soar past US$150 billion each
year*.
Additional impetus for renewable energy investment is being
created by the introduction of emissions trading schemes around the
world. As more and more countries place a price on carbon to
drive steep reductions in greenhouse pollution, demand for clean
power generation will continue to grow.
Pacific Hydro is ideally placed to take advantage of new
opportunities both at home and internationally.
* Source: New Energy Finance
US$1000 billion will be invested in renewable energy by
2030.
Source: International Energy Agency