Power Sector Speaks up on Climate Technology

The business leaders, all members of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development's Electricity Utilities Sector Project, have taken part in a “technology-by-technology” analysis to determine what policies will be needed at national and international levels to deploy the technologies on the required scale. Balancing energy security, providing affordable electricity and mitigating climate change will require global cooperation.

"In the coming decades," the CEOs say in the report, "the world will need double today's power generation. We in the power sector have a strong opportunity to take a lead in combating climate change. But we cannot do this alone. We need to work with governments and other stakeholders to find solutions. We realize some of these changes will take many years, but there is no time to lose and it is only through combined efforts that we will succeed in creating a low-carbon, sustainable energy future."

The report, called Power to Change: A business contribution to a low-carbon electricity future (1.1  MB), was released  by the WBCSD at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznań, Poland. Building on an interim report published in Bali last year, the companies have tested policy thinking through international talks in China, Japan and South Africa to arrive at the final recommendations presented in the report. It contains a comprehensive comparison of existing and potential technologies with a very specific outline of policies and measures to drive large-scale technological development and deployment worldwide.

The investment needed for capital replacement and additional infrastructure development has been estimated at USD11.6 trillion by 2030.The report highlights that this presents a significant opportunity to direct investments towards low-carbon technologies.

"About 41% of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions come from the electricity sector," said Matthew Bateson, the WBCSD's Energy & Climate Managing Director. "It will be a challenge to cut those emissions while maintaining economic development and sustaining the social benefits provided by electricity, but, given the need for new investment in the industry, it could also be an opportunity."

"The sector operates on long-term investments, so decisions made today will persist for the next 40 years or so, if not longer. So it is essential that the right decisions are made today." The CEOs say business cannot address the challenge of climate change alone and that urgent action from governments is needed. "The recent crisis in the global financial markets must not be allowed to stifle or delay critical infrastructure investments at a time when these are so badly needed," they say. Project member companies are ABB Ltd., AEP, CLP Holdings Ltd., EDF Group, Eskom Holdings Ltd., GDF SUEZ, Kansai Electric Power Company, Statkraft, Tokyo Electric Power Company Inc.