The World Bioenergy Association has advised other countries to push for a carbon tax, similar to what the UK already has. The purpose of this proposed tax for other countries is to help them achieve the set targets set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.
In a past article we produced we have talked about this point, where the Committee on Climate Change says, in a recent report, more progress is needed to ensure we reach these lower carbon levels.
Fossil fuels should be phased out, year on year and the WBA have asked countries around the world to act now.
The key objective of all this is to help keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and ideally limit it to just 1.5 degrees Celsius. But for this to happen we need to be proactive.
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How we can make a move in the right direction – a few ideas which are currently for open consideration:
- A carbon tax will be a quick and efficient way to reduce the use of fossil fuels, which will encourage more people to use more environmentally friendly fuel sources like wood, and other bio organic products
- Create an exit strategy for fossil fuels – each country should invest in a cohesive exit strategy, which will gear peoples thinking towards more environmentally friendly fuels
- Stop fossil fuel infrastructure and further investing in fossil fuel development
- Fossil fuel subsidies should be stopped
- All renewable energies should be developed according to their specific regional potential
Examples of countries that are already making the most of renewable energy:
Denmark – This country aims to be free of fossil fuel usage by 2050. They already produce a massive 42% of it’s electricity from wind farms, which is a world record. Denmark is a particularly windy country, where all the wind power could in theory provide 140% of the countries electricity requirement.
Kenya – This country is heavily focused on geothermal energy. In 2015 geothermal accounted for just over 50% of Kenya’s energy mix. This is a significant leap in comparison to only 13% in 2010.
Morocco – Morocco has the largest solar plant on earth. It’s location is excellent with long, hot sunny days making it an ideal location for such. Combined with it’s wind and hydro plants, these renewable energies will produce 50% of Moroccos total electricity requirements by around the year 2020.
Scotland – In 2015 alone, wind power in Scotland produced the equivalent to 97% of it’s total households electrical needs. Renewable electricity in Scotland in 2015 was up 15.2% compared to 2014. 57.7% of Scotland’s electricity came from renewables in 2015. Wave and wind power are two abundant elements in Scotland, which make a significant contribution towards their renewable energy.
