Renewable energy sources

Russia’s First Deputy Minister of Energy Alexey Teksler, during his speech at the UN Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Forum that took place in Austria earlier this month, proclaimed Russia’s intention to increase renewable energy production 10 times. Russian environmental NGOs say that the country’s real renewable energy potential exceeds the announced level by far, yet the effort demonstrated by the authorities in this respect has been insignificant.

Having analyzed the last year’s economic and environmental outcomes, the International Energy Agency came to a sensational conclusion. According to the experts, the economic growth of 2014 was not followed by any growth of greenhouse gases emissions. Environmental NGOs say that such an unexpected conclusion is yet another proof that it is possible to have economic development with a zero emissions growth.

By 2020 most companies of the world may shift to a 100% renewable energy consumption and reduce their GHG emissions to zero by 2050, say Track 0 experts, who just released a publication on green goals for businesses.

Analyzing the results of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, many experts agree that a major shift in guiding principles is happening in the world economy. However, according to environmental NGOs, Russia keeps staying away from the latest global economic trends, and its development is primarily moved by inertia.

ClimateProgress analysts state that despite the whirlwind of negative events that severely affected the world economy the year 2014 was marked by a number of significant positive events in terms of renewable energy development. According to environmental NGOs, these positive technological accomplishments have the ability to create the foundation for a stable world economy.

In the near future, solar energy can become a real alternative to traditional energy sources. This is the conclusion made by participants of the round table "Switch on the sun - live comfortably! Restyling Energy in Southern Urals," which took place in Chelyabinsk and was dated for the World Energy Saving Day.

Comparative efficiencies of different measures to combat climate change are unclear. The Economist has presented an assessment for effectiveness of various efforts to prevent emissions of greenhouse gases. The Russian Social Ecological Union believes that the key way to solve the problem of climate change is combining development of a variety of renewable energy sources and reduction of energy consumption due to energy conservation and efficiency.

Before Ban Ki-moon’s climate summit, which will take place in New York in September, four countries with developing economies that are Russia’s colleagues at BRICS claimed to be ahead of developed countries in fighting climate change.

International "Ecodefence" Group has released a report "Overview of options for introducing renewable energy in the Russian Federation." Environmentalists believe that the potential for renewable energy is present in all regions of Russia, and without development of renewables the country and regions are doomed to technological backwardness, significant economic costs and a severe burden on the environment.