Section 3. Country performance Key drivers for country support to renewable energy development The introduction of renewable energy brings multiple benefits to society. Indeed, most countries deploying renewable energy are motivated by a combination of social objectives that vary depending on their economic conditions, resource endowments, and strategic priorities. This combination of objectives may include reducing greenhouse gas emissions and local environmental impacts, enhancing energy security, stimulating economic and industrial development, and increasing access to reliable, affordable, and clean modern energy services. Many countries have strongly supported renewable energy as part of an environmental and climate change policy in addition to other social objectives. For instance, renewables play a key role in the climate change mitigation strategies of all EU member states, Norway, Australia, Mexico, India, and many others.
the production of ethanol from sugarcane to decrease dependency on imported fossil fuels for transport. Also, in many fuel-dependent countries where the avoided cost of power generation or heating is high, renewable energy represents a competitive alternative that comes without an incremental cost or additional burden on taxpayers or consumers. Indeed, the justification of renewable energy deployment on economic grounds, including a solid understanding of the full range and valuation of benefits, is essential to policy making and regulatory design.
$277 billion
invested in renewable
energy in 2011, more than six times the investment in 2004
The overall contribution of renewable energy to local environmental sustainability has also driven many countries to introduce specific renewable energy policies, especially in nations where the consumption of traditional biomass or the use of fossil fuels results in acute air pollution levels, biodiversity loss, or deforestation. In Nepalese villages, for example, modern renewable energy systems have been deployed to mitigate the negative impacts on biodiversity and deforestation resulting from the unsustainable use of biomass. China, in particular, has explicitly aimed at increasing renewable energy to lower and avoid the regional and local environmental impacts of coal-based power generation. Many other countries have also explicitly supported renewables to reduce local environmental impacts.
A few high- and middle-income economies have also strongly focused on renewable energy to support economic growth and job creation. Denmark, Germany, China, and India among others have provided specific incentives to stimulate technology innovation, promote the domestic manufacture of renewable energy equipment, and create a local market for companies installing and developing renewable energy projects. Germany, for instance, has spent more on PV R&D than any other country in Europe, with the aim of growing a competitive export industry of components, final products, and manufacturing equipment (IPCC 2011).
At the same time, energy security is a key strategic priority of almost all nations. Renewable energy can improve security of supply in a variety of ways, including reducing dependence on imported fuels, contributing to technological and fuel diversification, hedging against fuel price volatility, and enhancing the national trade and fiscal balances. Since the early 1970s, for example, Brazil has promoted
Renewable energy can also contribute to increasing energy access in peri-urban and rural areas. Many developing countries (including, for example, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Bangladesh, China, India, Sri Lanka, Tonga, and Zambia) have introduced energy access programs and policies to increase access to energy services with renewable-energy -based solutions.
187 Global tracking framework