Renewable energy is “cost-competitive” despite high interest rates driving up financing costs in emerging markets and developing economies, one of the industry’s leading voices has said.
Bruce Douglas, chief executive of the Global Renewables Alliance, told media on the sidelines of the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai that interest rates affect the cost of capital in developing economies
Setting up renewable energy projects in these countries can be “two to five times” more expensive than in other markets, he added.
“Even with that, we’re cost competitive, but we need a new approach to financing,” Mr Douglas said.
The GRA is a coalition of over various nations and influential organisations.
Mr Douglas called for more grants and zero-interest loans in developing economies to increase renewable energy deployment.
On Saturday, the Cop28 Presidency said that 118 countries had signed the global renewables and energy efficiency pledge.
The countries will commit to work together to triple the world’s current renewable energy generation capacity to at least 11,000 gigawatts by 2030, considering “different starting points and national circumstances”.
“We’ve heard that some countries [are] still interested in joining that initiative. It’s a great start,” Mr Douglas said.
The next step for the renewables alliance is to push for “strong” and “unambiguous” language in the negotiating text, which would also include a review process to monitor and report progress to 2030 annually, he added.
The global shift to renewable energy comes as solar and wind – two of the most widely used sources – face supply bottlenecks.
The development of solar projects worldwide stalled last year, in part due to strict lockdowns in China, the world’s largest manufacturer of solar components.
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