Policymakers in emerging markets and developing economies are raising their renewable energy targets, but the implementation of the same remains inadequate and insufficient, according to a new report.
More than nine of ten developing countries have publicly committed to installing a particular amount of renewable energy, but follow-through remains critical, noted the latest edition of the Climatescope survey by BloombergNEF (BNEF), a strategic research provider.
Some 92 per cent of emerging economies included renewable energy ambitions in their nationally determined contributions to address climate change, up from 82 per cent in 2020 and 67 per cent in 2019.
Anxiety over energy security in light of rising fossil fuel prices, concerns about climate change, a desire to show progress prior to the COP27 international climate talks, or simply the appeal of developing cost-effective energy are some potential explanations for the shift.
The disparity between the long-term objectives and the short-term execution strategies indicates that policymakers still have a lot of work to do, the report highlighted.
There can be a lack of follow-through even in nations that have pledged to implement feed-in tariffs, net metering, or renewable energy auctions.
Reverse auction policies for clean electricity delivery contracts are currently in place in 56 per cent of emerging economies, it added.
In a reverse auction, the buyer posts a request for a particular good or service and sellers compete to win the buyer’s bid.
“Without supporting regulations, policy implementation alone cannot guarantee that a country attracts the amount of investment needed to kick off its energy transition,” said Sofia Maia, Climatescope’s project manager, in a press release.
Only one among the 15 developed and emerging countries that finished at the bottom of the Climatescope power policy scoring table managed to secure more than $2 billion in clean power investment from 2017 to 2021, Maia added.
A program to hold reverse auctions for clean-power delivery contracts is only useful if a country executes such auctions, said Ethan Zindler, head of Americas research at BNEF.
“We have seen plenty of examples of countries that have set long-term goals, passed short-term policies, but failed to properly implement them,” Zindler added.
The analysis of clean energy also included data on investment and deployment trends of renewables. The survey ranked countries based on their potential to attract investment in zero-carbon energy sources. Chile is the highest-scoring emerging market in the survey for 2022. The country is followed by India, China, Colombia and Croatia.