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11.12.2015 Feature Article

Fossil Fuels Panic As Climate Talks Go Renewable

Fossil Fuels Panic As Climate Talks Go Renewable
11.12.2015 LISTEN

In Paris, a wind-power installation outside of the negotiating complex at Le Bourget gently revolves as slow winds blows. Inside the negotiation halls, the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies and their representatives sweat with each unfolding truth being revealed about global warming; the contribution of fossil fuel companies to this mess, and the 100% renewable energy goal by the end of this century.

Engie, formally known as GDF Suez, is a massive energy company — according to the Brand Finance Brandirectory, it is the most accredited utilities company in the world, bringing in more than $80 billion in annual revenue. Unfortunately, a lot of that value comes from the embattled fossil fuels.

More than 70 percent of the company’s energy output comes from natural gas and coal, compared to 13 percent from renewable energy. As a single entity, Engie emitted as much greenhouse gases in 2014 as the entire country of Belgium.

Engie is also among the prominent sponsors of the current U.N. climate talks alongside other corporations like Électricité de France (EDF), which operates 16 major coal plants worldwide, and BNP Paribas, one of the world’s top banks for financing coal production.

“These are actors that are still driving the climate crisis, and meanwhile they are sponsoring the very forum that is supposed to create the solution,” Katherine Sawyer, international organizer for Corporate Accountability International, told a news.

Corporate Accountability International constantly worry that by allowing corporate sponsors like Engie and EDF, the climate conference is essentially helping the brands “greenwash” their image, lending them an air of environmental credibility that masks their real interests. It gives them an avenue to position themselves as stakeholders in the process, which could ultimately have an impact on the final agreement.

“Of course, there is public opinion unfortunately, that these companies are here in the negotiations as stakeholders and need to be part of the solution, Sawyer said. But in the minds of fossil fuel actors, there must be real fire going on as the two-week conference centers itself as renewable energy champion.

This week two of the biggest developing country blocs went big on renewable energy. On Monday India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the Solar Alliance, a group of more than 120 countries which aim to spread cheap solar technology across the globe by pooling policy knowledge and technology. Businesses backing the project include Areva, Enel, HSBC France and Tata Steel. India’s perceived lack of willingness to embrace low carbon energy is often cited by some as a reason climate change is impossible to address.

But Modi’s plan to install 175 gigawatts of renewable energy (enough to power 130 million Indian homes) by 2022 suggests otherwise. This week in Paris Modi said: “Solar technology is evolving, costs are coming down and grid connectivity is improving. The dream of universal access to clean energy is becoming more real.

Prof John Schellnhuber, one of the most influential climate scientists and a key member of the German delegation attending the Paris summit and has advised Angela Merkel and Pope Francis to continue advocating for renewable energy. “The avalanche will start because ultimately nothing can compete with renewables,” Schellnhuber asserted to the press.

One of the most vital outcomes of Paris might be considered advocacy for renewable energy. Investing at [large] scale inevitably will throw the world on a much cheaper, much more reliable, much safer technologies in the energy system, that’s if the dirty energy lobbyists and their wary statistics are not permitted to influence the climate deal.

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