ESG Research Update

ESG Research Updates

UNSW study: transitioning to renewable energy will not harm global economy

It’s possible, say University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney researchers, to make the transition to a renewable energy future without damaging the global economy, but instead will have environmental and long-term economic benefits.

The research paper, Clean Energy Australia, published in the Ecological Economics journal, looked at over 10 studies on renewable energy systems in areas that wind and/or solar could provide almost all energy requirements, for example, Australia and the United States. Renewable energy is already contributing 24 per cent of Australia’s total electricity generation.

The paper demonstrates that there is no credible scientific evidence to support claims that we need fossil fuels or nuclear power. An old study published in 2014 was using 30-year-old data, with research coming out as late as 2018 using this old data, was the foundation for the views of those saying it couldn’t be done.

The technology has changed so much since then that any study based on old information was no longer useful when making predictions for the future. For example, the cost of wind power has reduced by 30 per cent and solar by 85-90 per cent in the last 10 years alone. Underestimating storage and overestimating costs has been an issue in previous studies when used in today’s analysis.

Read Implications of Trends in Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI) for Transitioning to Renewable Electricity in full