Value of renewables to reach $1tr

UN-backed report insists renewables have made it into the mainstream

World governments need to bolster their investment in renewable energy companies to obliterate fossil fuel usage and create a trillion-dollar-a-year industry, according to a new UN-backed report.

The Renewables Global Status Report 2007 from the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) said that the clean energy sector was now a mainstream energy solution.

It argued that if governments set clear targets on reducing pollution-intensive energy, and provided support to companies involved in industries such as wind and solar power, it could become a global powerhouse.

“With more than 70 countries installing wind, and biomass power generation expanding in more than 40 countries, renewable energy is clearly a global sector,” said Mohamed El-Ashry, the head of REN21, which is partly sponsored by the UN and aims to influence world decision-makers. "What’s needed now are binding targets to establish polices that can rapidly accelerate the large-scale deployment of renewable energy to replace fossil fuels."

The clean energy sector is already expected to be worth $750bn a year by 2016 and the report estimates that it could extend to $1tr a year.

However, the UN warned there was still a "disconnect between the markets and policy makers” and urged governments to "send market signals that will accelerate the use of renewable energy and the commercialisation of other renewables".

The report coincides with the creation of a new joint venture between Canadian venture capital firm Chrysalix Energy and asset manager Robeco designed to invest in European renewable energy firms.