Six global industry organisations representing green hydrogen, wind, solar, hydropower, long duration storage and geothermal have agreed to work together for the first time to accelerate the deployment of their technologies under a memorandum of understanding signed during the Cop27 climate talks this week at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

The Global Renewables Alliance aims to position renewable energy as a pillar of sustainable development and economic growth, particularly in the global south.

It will bring together the technologies needed for the transition and work with international energy, economic and environmental institutions in key areas including advocacy, education, market intelligence and data and engagement.

800GW – Renewable energy capacity needed for green hydrogen production in 2030

“The Global Renewables Alliance will use the collective weight of its member technologies to overcome the challenges affecting the global energy transition and increase the share of voice for renewables where fossil fuels are still disproportionately present,” the group says.

“Recent reports from the UN highlight a growing gap between global climate targets and implementation of the energy transition on the ground and in the oceans. The reports paint a bleak picture for our planet if action is not taken to speed up renewable energy deployment.”

The members of the alliance are: the Green Hydrogen Organisation; the Global Wind Energy Council; the Global Solar Council; the International Hydropower Association; the Long Duration Energy Storage Council; and the International Geothermal Association.

Planning push

The same six industry groups also launched an initiative to focus specifically on speeding up planning and approvals for renewables projects, called the Planning for Climate Commission. Planning bottlenecks are widely seen as being among the biggest barriers to the deployment of renewables at scale.

Achieving production of 100mn t/yr of green hydrogen needed to replace fossil hydrogen and decarbonise both food production and heavy industry by 2030 will require 800GW of renewable energy alone, the groups say.

“The amount of renewables needed to move away from fossil fuels is on a scale never seen before, but we cannot fail. We need fit-for-purpose permitting processes which help rather than hinder the deployment of renewables and green hydrogen around the world, and this Commission will deliver the recommendations to achieve that aim,” says Malcolm Turnbull, former Australian prime minister and chair of the Green Hydrogen Organisation.

The new commission will agree a set of recommendations by mid-2023 and is expected to present its findings to the UN General Assembly in September 2023.

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Author: Stuart Penson