Gunnar Boye Olesen

COP18: Transition to 100% renewables possible in 20 years

COP18 (29/11/2012) – Gunnar Boye Olesen, Co-ordinator for the International Network for Sustainable Energy, describes how countries in the EU, especially Denmark and the UK , could move to using 100% renewable energy in 20 years from now. His organisation has been working to demonstrate the feasibility of this, while evaluating the variability of different forms of renewable energy.

He says this kind of transition to renewable energy sources makes economic sense, but that there remains lots of information work to do to convince those who profit from selling inefficient old technologies and others who do not know enough about the feasibility of renewables. He says that in order to make this transition, there first needs to be the political will to promote sustainability to overcome vested interests in old habits and inefficient technologies. He says current debates on switching to renewables vary enormously from country to country.

He describes the need for his organisation to work in the negotiations and beyond, integrating with national agendas in countries as diverse as Denmark, Poland and China.