Clean Energy Systems Adopted Worldwide, Countries Embracing Renewable Energy

The world has finally accepted clean energy! That is, according to Professor Catherine Mitchell from the University of Exeter's Energy Policy Group. In this latest study Mitchell, an energy expert, found that clean and renewable energy sources are increasingly being adopted by investors and policy makers worldwide, which indicates that the fight against climate change is on.

"While the world is still dependent on fossil fuels, because energy systems have long lives, it has got to the point where more than half of global electricity system investment is in renewables rather than fossil fuels investment," Mitchell said, in a news release. "It is a sign that globally we have moved our public policy discourse and investor preferences from the old 'dirty' energy system to a clean one."

Mitchell found that investments in renewable electricity have outnumbered those in fossil fuels. In addition, the study points out that the majority of increasing clean energy policies are not only flexible, but they are designed to improve energy efficiency along with the adoption of sustainable energy systems. The study highlighted that countries such as Denmark and Germany have adopted renewable electricity in the 1990s, which has improved the understanding of energy system operations. Some countries like the U.K. still depend on traditional energy sources, but are gradually adopting sustainable energy systems.

"They are just trying to act as good global neighbors and have realized that meeting their climate change reduction commitments is no longer as expensive as they thought, and it helps, rather than makes worse, the security of their energy systems," Mitchell said.

Mitchell claimed that the United Nations' climate change meeting in Paris has identified numerous sustainable energy policies. Nevertheless, "these statements need to be backed up with appropriate governance-policies, institutions, incentives and energy system rules to make sure they are implemented and are successful," Mitchell said.

The findings of this study are published in Nature Energy.  

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