Governments and businesses "must work" together to meet climate goals

A joint report from Orsted and the World Resources Institute (WRI) has declared that global governments and the private sector must work together to speed up decarbonisation efforts and incentivise investment in renewable energy.

It claims the current rate of adoption for renewable energy is not enough to ensure the world meets net-zero targets and much of the technological push in this field will be driven by private companies as they transition to greener methods.

Read more: Radical change needed en route to net-zero, IEA warns

The report indicates a number of ways "barriers"  to adoption could be reduced for companies.

This includes reforms to planning and permitting policy, and pushing for "market instruments" to increase investments in the necessary technologies.

A major priority for nations is the complete decarbonisation of the energy sector, with a particular emphasis on green electricity. This represents a burgeoning technology market that is currently not on track to be able to avert the worst effects of climate change, the report states.

Challenges that inhibit decarbonisation have been split into three major categories: investments that lack market calalysation; lack of public support for renewable development; and incompatible or inadequate grid structure.

The report suggests the adoption of long-term climate goals and an "enabling environment" -  likely referring to tax incentives of stimulus packages - to help drive development while investing in modern grid systems and improving planning infrastructure and increasing public engagement.

Manish Bapna, the President of the WRI and Mads Nipper, Orsted's CEO, issued a joint statement: "There has never been a more decisive moment for the energy transition. Analysis shows that the world must produce nearly six times more renewable energy by 2030 to avoid the worst climate impacts.

"60 countries and counting have committed to zero carbon targets and nearly 1,500 companies have adopted science-based emission reduction targets. We must now focus on the enabling environment that will unlock capital at scale for renewable energy."

The report's authors claim the world's government are seeing different levels of technology adoption in the switch to net-zero.

This means many issues arising from climate change must be handled on a country-by-country basis.

Read more: Daikin unveils guide to decarbonising residential heating

They claim that "many of the technologies that will drive the energy transition are commercially available today," referring to initiatives such as utility-scale PV and onshore wind projects representing some of the cheapest options for more than two-thirds of the world.

"However, as much as $131 billion of investment will be needed between now and 2050 - with much of this coming from the private sector - representing a 30% increase over currently planned investment allocations," they added.

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