communities of faith to commit to a zero or lowcarbon future . Pressure is also being placed on the more reluctant energy sector players . Even shareholders in fossil fuel companies are increasingly pushing for their companies to become ‘ greener ’. The private sector is taking advantage of the falling costs of renewable energy technologies , and new initiatives have emerged that include both public and private sector actors , acknowledging that all have a role to play in energy transition .
In parallel , increasing energy access for 1.2 billion people without access to electricity is an international priority . In order to meet the target of limiting global temperature increase to below two degrees Celsius , while at the same time increasing energy access , remaining fossil fuel reserves will have to be kept in the ground , and both renewable energy and energy efficiency will have to be scaled up dramatically .
LEVELLING THE PLAYING FIELD
Fossil fuel subsidies have to be phased out , as they distort the true costs of energy and encourage wasteful spending and increased emissions . Fossil fuel subsidies also present a barrier to scaling up clean energy by :
●● decreasing the costs of fossil fuel-powered electricity generation , thereby blunting the cost-competitiveness of renewables ;
●● creating an incumbent advantage that strengthens the position of fossil fuels in the electricity system ; and
●● creating conditions that favour investments in fossil fuel-based technologies over renewables .
Fossil fuel subsidies were estimated to be over US $ 490 billion in 2014 , compared with subsidies of only US $ 135 billion for renewables .
Policy design should discourage investments in fossil fuel and nuclear energy , while removing risks from investments in renewable energy . This is crucial for scaling up renewables , which can help close the energy access gap . Although there has been some divestment from fossil fuels and advances in renewable energy investment , fossil fuel and nuclear investments continue to be favoured over clean energy in many instances , particularly when short-term gains are the primary consideration and long-term thinking is discounted . This can occur when politicians think only in terms of the next election cycle , or when companies attempt to provide shareholders with quick returns . Furthermore , fossil fuels are more institutionalised and have long-standing , wellfinanced lobbies .
Conversely , renewables are still less known and often suffer from negative images and messages that are widely communicated , such as the idea that that investing in large renewable projects is unrealistic . Simultaneously , renewable energy policy changes and uncertainties undermine investor confidence , inhibiting investment and deployment in some markets . Investors consider all of these factors in their decision making , as do insurers ( demonstrated by the increasing presence of insurance addressing climate change risks ). Likewise , policy makers should think on a long-term basis in order to increase investment in clean energy and advance the energy transition in their countries .
THINKING BEYOND THE POWER SECTOR
More emphasis needs to be placed on strengthening the role of renewable energy in the heating , cooling and transport sectors , as well as on sector coupling . Policy support for the use of renewables in these sectors has advanced at a much slower pace over the past 10 years than it has in the power sector . Currently renewable heat obligations exist in only 21 countries and biofuel mandates exist in only 66 countries , compared with 114 countries with renewable energy regulatory policies in the power sector . Not only should policy support for renewables increase in general , but interaction among the three sectors also needs to increase , and national policies should strengthen local capacity , particularly in the heating and cooling sector due to its distributed nature and to its large reliance on local resources .
Policy makers need to remove barriers that are preventing the increased share of renewables in heating , cooling and transport . Current policy initiatives in both sectors are not sufficient to drive the transition from fossil fuels . Policies in the
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