Global100RE COP26 Declaration: The Transition to 100% Renewable Energy is Possible! The Earlier the Better, Let’s Speed it Up!

Accordingly, The Global 100% Renewable Energy Platform call for speeding up the transition to 100% renewable energy globally. Countless scientific studies have shown: A 100% renewable energy supply is possible in all countries, it brings manifold benefits, and the earlier we realise it, the better it is for the climate, for the people and for the planet.

Renewable resources are there in abundance, renewable technologies are readily available and affordable – and they are in fact cheaper than fossil or nuclear energies.

Shifting all energy investments to renewable energy and energy efficiency is a must! Supportive legislation instead of obstructive frameworks, the focus on enabling citizens and communities, and continued research are ways to speed up the transition towards a 100 % renewables future.

In the Global100RE Platform, we are united for the real narrative: A 100% renewable energy future is possible. 100% renewable energy must be the new normal. The shift is ongoing wordwide.

Wind, solar, hydro, bio, and geothermal energy sources are available and in common use in many countries and regions. Citizens and communities are installing solar panels on their own houses, utilities are erecting wind turbines, and communities, farmers, and businesses have become producers of renewable energy.

The combined renewable energy potential is practically unlimited for electricity, heating/cooling, industrial processes and transportation. Today the renewable energy industry is flourishing, and competitive in price. Cities, communities and citizens are already making major steps towards the transformation towards renewable energy. And further cost reduction and technical improvements will bring even better and cheaper solutions where needed, like storage of electricity. Renewables are the new normal; they are abundant and cheap.

As a key to solve the climate crisis, from now all investment in energy supply must be in renewable energy .

Nuclear Energy is NOT an Alternative! It is unsafe, expensive, and slow.

In spite of the obvious advantages of renewables, including their abundance, low cost and universal accessibility, some governments, international organisations and industries are highlighting nuclear power as the solution to climate change. In particular, ahead of COP26, we see rising efforts to present nuclear energy as the answer for climate change based on their lower CO2 emissions compared with fossil power plants, but this ignores the high costs and many other disadvantages of nuclear technology.

To facilitate the narrative, the nuclear lobby is spreading misleading information with the story that nuclear power is cheap, and not harmful. The most recent and hugely delayed projects in Olkiluoto, Flamanville and Hinkley Point prove that nuclear power is not cheap but is getting more and more expensive, including large cost overruns of the projects. The terrible disasters of Fukushima and Chernobyl teach us all that nuclear power can never be completely safe. And the fact that there is still no solution for nuclear waste, the disastrous impact of uranium mining, the additional risk of terrorist attacks and the threat of nuclear proliferation, should alone be enough not to consider nuclear power as an option.

We state clearly: Nuclear energy is not an alternative. Nuclear energy has again and again proven to be unsafe, expensive, too slow for affecting urgent climate action, and creating unbearable burdens on future generations.

Divesting from fossil and nuclear and investing in renewables is a win-win

We call on all industries, countries and banks to shift their capital investments immediately and entirely into renewable energy and energy efficiency measures. This shift of investment and jobs is a win-win situation.

The nuclear industry and some governments lobby for diverting climate finance into nuclear investment. We have deep concerns that these investments take valuable financial resources away from renewables and further delay of actions to climate mitigation.

We also raise our concern that some countries have slowed down the deployment of renewables, which in effect protects the legacy fossil and nuclear industries (France, Germany, Denmark, Spain, and several others). Such short-sighted action weakens the global race towards technology leadership in renewable energy.

It is time for citizens, communities, businesses, local and national governments around the world to stop investing in fossil or nuclear energies and to use all their resources for energy supply to harvest renewable energy. As a key strategy for climate change mitigation these actions are needed for the benefit of all human beings, including future generations.

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