INSURING A RENEWABLE FUTURE
With the recent announcement of the UK's Fourth Carbon Budget, the rising importance of renewable energy as an employer and an uncertain future for the nuclear industry following the tragic events in Japan, renewable energy has never been more in the spotlight.
In a new report released today, global insurer RSA and environmental organisation, WWF, set out the case for a renewable energy future and a challenging vision for meeting 100% of the world’s energy needs by 2050.
While the environmental, economic and social benefits of renewable energy are clear the path to broader adoption is challenging and requires considerable collaboration with and commitment from governments around the world. We are specifically calling for:
• Greater access to capital: the cost of developing a solar or wind farm is substantial but with the right financial structures in place the economic case can be compelling and will become even more so, as costs fall with technology improvements, development of domestic supply chains and economies of scale.
• Incentives: governments’ need to provide competitive and lasting financial incentives for renewable energy developments to give investors the confidence to invest in the long term.
• Better connectivity: we need grid infrastructure that goes beyond national borders to help match fluctuating supply and demand. The UK, for example, could meet all of its energy needs through a combination of its own wind and tidal power supplemented by Alpine or Scandinavian hydro and solar from the Mediterranean.
True collaboration will be key. Only by government, insurers, manufacturers, utility companies and environmental organisations working together will we succeed in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and moving to a low carbon, sustainable energy future.
Mark Potter, Head of Renewable Energy at RSA, said: “Renewable energy is crucial if we are to meet our future energy needs while mitigating the impact of climate change.
“Over the last 30 years we have been key supporters of renewable energy from the first wind turbines in the 1970s to the pioneers of the future. As the industry continues to evolve both in terms technological innovation and geographic diversity, insurers will need to play a key role in insuring a carbon free future.”
Nick Molho, Head of Energy Policy at WWK-UK, said: “Renewable energy can undoubtedly provide an overwhelming proportion of our global energy needs but it also makes sense for a number of economic and environmental reasons.
“By making energy efficiency and renewable energy key priorities of our future energy system, the world economy could save up to $4 trillion a year through reduced energy consumption and reduced fuel costs.
“This doesn’t even take into account the added value of job creation, reduced health costs, avoided impacts of climate change and the absence of having to manage high level radioactive waste that moving towards an energy efficient economy powered by renewables would provide.”
ENDS
Media enquires:
Bart Nash
Group Head of External Communications
+44 (0) 207 111 7336
bart.nash@gcc.rsagroup.com
About RSA
With a 300 year heritage, RSA is one of the world’s leading multinational quoted insurance groups. RSA has major operations in the UK, Scandinavia, Canada, Ireland, Asia and the Middle East, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe and has the capability to write business in over 130 countries. Focusing on general insurance, RSA has around 22,000 employees and, in 2010, its net written premiums were £7.5 billion.
About WWF
WWF is one of the world's largest independent conservation organisations, with more than five million supporters and a global network active in more than one hundred countries. We're working to create solutions to the most serious environmental issues facing our planet, so that people and nature can thrive. Through our engagement with the public, businesses and government, we focus on safeguarding the natural world, tacking climate change and changing the way we live. In 2011, WWF's 50th anniversary year, we are celebrating what we have achieved so far together, and are positive about tackling the challenges of the future. Find out more about our work, past and present at www.wwf.org.uk. WWF’s Energy Report, shows that that by 2050, power, transport, industrial and domestic energy needs could be met overwhelmingly from renewable sources vastly reducing anxieties over energy security, pollution and catastrophic climate change .http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/2011_02_02_the_energy_report_full.pdf