A chara, – While your coverage of the COP21 climate change agreement in Paris rightly focused on the diplomacy, sustainable development pathway and agreed goals, little attention has been placed on the potential opportunities that arise for Irish industry, both multinationals and small and medium enterprises.
While business has been engaged for many years in the climate change negotiations, it has largely been ignored. While hoping for an ambitious agreement, private-sector expectations were low given the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s pedigree of past underperformance, notably in meeting expectations (for example, the Kyoto protocol, the Buenos Aires plan of action, the Marrakesh and Copenhagen accords, the Bali road map, the Cancún agreements, the Durban platform and the Doha Climate gateway). Boardrooms are now assessing the impact of the Paris agreement in terms of what it will mean for their bottom line.
COP21 embraced business. It acknowledged that the pledges of $100 billion per year, through the Green Climate Fund, will predominantly be provided for technology demonstration and capacity building within developing countries. The binding component of the agreement committed to a funding of environmentally sound technologies and emphasised the role of innovation in terms of a co-operative approach to research and development (R&D) and access to clean technologies.
This copper-fastens the role of the private sector in terms of countries pursuing policies and plans (intended national determined contributions or INDCs) for each country in terms of creating “bankable” projects that investors feel comfortable supporting.
The COP21 agreement stresses implementation. Implementation will mean climate smart agriculture, building greener cities, adapting to climate change patterns, enhancing access to renewable energies and embracing energy-efficiency technologies and services. Clear business opportunities will result, from helping government to develop feed-in tariffs support schemes, to stimulating R&D, to establishing energy co-operatives and local energy agencies, to retrofitting buildings and finally to working with industry to develop and deploy climate smart technologies and services.
The past five years have witnessed a fall in prices for renewable energy technologies, meaning policymakers are now considering options to decarbonise their systems. International financial institutions are divesting from fossil to clean energy. Even before Paris, we witnessed significant investment in technology transfer, with $62 billion moving from north to south in global terms.
Now almost 190 countries have submitted plans (with nearly 11,000 commitments) outlining future action. Opportunities resulting from carbon pricing will be significant as over 90 of these countries have included carbon pricing schemes in their pursuit of country plans post-COP21.
The COP21 agreement has surpassed expectations within government and business, identifying significant investment opportunities for the private sector.
It has sent a clear signal to markets and investors that the future growth is one based on a decarbonisation of energy.
The coming months will see a comprehensive debate surrounding interpretation of the agreement and countries will make additional commitments as they pledge and review in 2018.
The agreement has been broadly welcomed by business, and Irish companies are well placed to engage in new opportunities that result from new market mechanisms, from managing resources sustainably and a greater deployment of sustainable energy technologies and services. These companies can be the change agents in this new climate economy, providing action, innovation and investment in solutions. – Yours, etc,
Dr MATTHEW KENNEDY,
International Energy
Research Centre,
Tyndall Institute,
Cork.