IPCC Special Report "Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation"


Close to 80 percent of the world‘s energy supply could be met by renewables by mid-century if backed by the right enabling public policies a new report shows.

The findings, from over 120 researchers working with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), also indicate that the rising penetration of renewable energies could lead to cumulative greenhouse gas savings equivalent to 220 to 560 Gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (GtC02eq) between 2010 and 2050.

The upper end of the scenarios assessed, representing a cut of around a third in greenhouse gas emissions from business-as-usual projections, could assist in keeping concentrations of greenhouse gases at 450 parts per million. This could contribute towards a goal of holding the increase in global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius – an aim recognized in the United Nations Climate Convention's Cancun Agreements.

Chapters of the Report
Preface
Summary for Policymakers
Technical Summary

Chapter 1 Renewable Energy and Climate Change
Chapter 2 Bioenergy
Chapter 3 Direct Solar Energy
Chapter 4 Geothermal Energy
Chapter 5 Hydropower
Chapter 6 Ocean Energy
Chapter 7 Wind Energy
Chapter 8 Integration of Renewable Energy into Present and Future Energy Systems
Chapter 9 Renewable Energy in the Context of Sustainable Development
Chapter 10 Mitigation Potential and Costs
Chapter 11 Policy, Financing and Implementation

Annex I Glossary, Acronyms, Chemical Symbols and Prefixes
Annex II Methodology
Annex III Recent Renewable Energy Cost and Performance Parameters
Annex IV Contributors to the IPCC Special Report
Annex V Reviewers of the IPCC Special Report
Annex VI Permissions to Publish

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> Website IPCC for individual chapter download

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