Nine New Countries Sign Up For Global Offshore Wind Alliance In COP27

COP27 has seen nine new countries including Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, UK and US join the Global Offshore Wind Alliance (GOWA), pledging to a rapid ramp up of offshore wind in order to tackle the climate and energy security crises.

The Global Offshore Wind Alliance will be a global driving force for the uptake of offshore wind. It will bring together governments, international organisations and the private sector, and aims to close the emissions gap and enhance energy security by contributing to growing installed global offshore wind capacity by a six-fold increase, from 57 GW today to at least 380 GW in 2030.

According to IRENA’s World Energy Transitions Outlook, 2,000 GW of installed offshore wind capacity is needed to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C and achieve net zero by 2050.

Global alliance will play major role in transforming targets into action, closing the renewable energy implementation gap while tackling economic, energy security and climate challenges.

COP27 has seen nine new countries including Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK, the US join the Global Offshore Wind Alliance (GOWA), pledging to a rapid ramp up of offshore wind in order to tackle the climate and energy security crises.

The alliance has been initiated by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Denmark and the Global Wind Energy Council and will bring together governments, the private sector, international organisations and other stakeholders to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind power. The countries joining GOWA have agreed to work together to drive national, regional, and global ambitions and remove barriers to the deployment of offshore wind in new and existing markets.

Offshore wind can be deployed at large scale, in short timeframes and at competitive cost – it is a fast and viable route to closing the growing gap between renewable energy targets and current rates of implementation.

Both the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) expect that offshore wind capacity will need to exceed 2000GW in 2050, from just over 60GW today, in order to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees and achieve net zero. To reach this target, GOWA will aim to contribute to accelerating growth to reach a total of at least 380GW installed capacity by the end of 2030.

Francesco la Camera, Director General, International Renewable Energy Agency said “Offshore wind represents a unique opportunity for countries to add huge volumes of new zero-carbon power generation, increase their climate ambition and ratchet up their NDCs. Offshore wind is more than competitive with fossil fuel generation, and can also provide a massive boost to investment and job creation.”

Ben Backwell, CEO, Global Wind Energy Council said “There is a large and growing gap between what is needed to reach our climate targets and what is actually happening in terms of implementation. Offshore wind is the most practical, available technology available for many countries to close this gap. But the situation is not hopeless. GWEC estimates that current announced government targets for offshore wind would take installed capacity to 370GW – close to the 380GW target – by end 2030. But we are going to have to all give our best efforts and work together if we are going to turn these targets into reality.”

Jonathan Cole, CEO of global specialist offshore wind developer Corio Generation said: “Thanks to astonishing technological innovation and dramatic cost reductions over the past decade, offshore wind is not only viable, it is a compelling source of clean, reliable and affordable energy for most countries with a coastline.

The writer of this article is Dr. Seema Javed, a known Environmentalist, Journalist and Communications Expert