EDITOR’S NOTES
NOVEMBER 2020
GREEN TECHNOLOGY IS NOW AT A TIPPING POINT IN TERMS OF GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE
ISSUE #220 Publishing & Events Director Richard Teasdale Richard@wipmagazines.com Publisher/Sales DIrector Neb Saric Neb@wipmagazines.com Managing Editor Aidan Turnbull Aidan@wipmagazines.com Marketing & Creative Manager Oscar Pancic Oscar@wipmagazines.com Accounts Executive Alison Williams Accounts@wipmagazines.com Far East Sales Bob Liu Shanghai, China bob.liu@ronco.com.cn US Sales & Subscriptions Jelena Milojevic power@gmp.uk.com Austrian & German Agent Mario Dobresko power@gmp.uk.com
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Green tech is at a tipping point where it could take off explosively ahead of radical decarbonisation. Hopefully, it will could bring a revolution in how create energy. The world’s best solar power schemes are now considered the “cheapest source of electricity in history”, the International Energy Agency (IEA), which analyses energy markets, has said. But are the world powers really serious about cutting carbon levels? The European Union has already signed up to a €500 billion green stimulus plan which China says it will also follow. Japan and South Korea both announced a 2050 net zero pledge and newly-appointed President Biden has offered a similarly ambitious carbon cutting plans. Both Biden and the EU have warned they will introduce carbon tariffs to penalise countries which haven’t cut carbon emissions-producing equipment in their markets. In July 2020 European THE EUROPEAN UNION governments approved the most HAS ALREADY SIGNED ambitious climate change plan to date, agreeing to pour more than UP TO A €500 BILLION €500 billion (US$572 billion) into everything from electric cars to GREEN STIMULUS PLAN.” renewable energy. “Never before, has so much of an EU budget been allocated to combating climate change,” said German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze. “The commitments to climate action and environmental protection are important and necessary, but the distribution of funds must reflect that.” The plan is part of Europe’s bid to become the world’s first climateneutral continent by 2050, putting it ahead of other major emitters such as the US, China, and India in the global fight against unstoppable temperature rise. The proportion of the European package earmarked for climate projects dramatically illustrates this contrast. Only US$54 billion of the trillions of dollars pledged globally will be channelled into green policies, while US$697 billion has been allocated for carbon-intensive sectors such as air travel and fossil fuel extraction, according to a Bloomberg NEF report. As part of this decarbonisation approach it seems likely that new petrol and diesel cars will be banned from 2030 under UK Government green initiatives to accelerate the switch to electric cars. Environmentalist have welcomed the plan, which comes after research released by Greenpeace found that 32,000 more jobs in the UK would be created by a 2030 ban instead of one five years later, as initially proposed. Despite this, it will probably take more than a decade for there to be more electric than petrol or diesel cars on UK roads.
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AIDAN TURNBULL Managing Editor
(ISSN 1468 7100) www.gmp.uk.com
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