Go Solar for Climate Change: Be Part of Something Bigger

“The sirens are blaring!” That was the screaming headline in late March as the U.N. weather agency sounded a “red alert” about global warming. In its annual “State of the Global Climate” report, the UN reported that average temperatures hit the highest level in 174 years of record-keeping, reaching 1.45 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

Every major global climate record was broken in 2023 – and 2024 could be worse, the agency said. And that will have some serious consequences for climate change in Ireland.

Five years ago, in March 2019, more than a million students skipped school to take part in a day of protest against government inaction on the climate crisis. Led by the then sixteen-year-old Swedish schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg, young people from 125 nations took part in some 2,000 protests across every continent.

It was a moment that galvanized the movement for climate justice and drew unparalleled levels of attention to the issue of climate change. Yet, Thunberg voiced understandable frustration at the lack of global leadership and action on the issue by “adults”.

“People keep asking me ‘What is the solution to the climate crisis?’. They expect me to know the answer. That is beyond absurd, as there are no ‘solutions’ within our current systems.

“We need a whole new way of thinking. The political system that you [adults] have created is all about competition. You cheat when you can because all that matters is to win. That must come to an end.

“We need to start cooperating and sharing the remaining resources of this planet in a fair way. We are just passing on the words of the science. Our only demand is that you start listening to it, and then start acting.”

Five years on, the UN weather agency’s dire predictions heighten the urgency of Thunberg’s call and make our collective continued failure to act decisively clear.

Although, there is one area in which the UN found “a glimmer of hope” ?- that was in the growth of renewable energy. The amount of renewable capacity added in 2023 was almost 50% greater than the year before, the report found, bringing it to the highest rate observed in the past two decades.

What can solar do for climate change?

Back in 2019, when Thunberg and the students issued their first call to action, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) published a paper on the future of solar. It was a stab by the “grown-ups” for the kind of climate action the student activists were demanding.

In its research, IRENA compared two pathways to 2050 – the first one was conservative, ?relied only on policies and plans then in train, the second, was more ambitious, based on the uptake of renewable energy?and?energy?efficiency?measures they argued would be needed to achieve the crisis-averting goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees. Solar, IRENA concluded, needed to play a significant role.

Accelerating?the rollout?of?solar could, by itself,?lead?to a more than 20% reduction?in the amount of carbon?dioxide?(Gt?CO?) produced by the energy sector by 2050. IRENA’s “ambitious pathway” would see solar coming just behind wind as the planet’s largest source of power – generating 25% of global electricity and transforming the electricity sector for a low-carbon future.

But the Agency warned that such a transformation was only possible by significantly upscaling solar capacity in the next three decades. This would mean increasing capacity from the 480 GW solar generated in 2018, to 2,840 GW by 2030 and 8,519 GW by 2050.

While we mark the fifth anniversary of the youth-led “Climate Strike”, a watershed moment for global environmental consciousness, it's important to ask “How are the grown-ups doing at living up to the challenge?”

In the case of solar, five years on from IRENA’s report on goals for our industry - we’re doing pretty well. By the end of 2022, the total global installed solar had reached 1,185GW – with year-on-year growth rates of almost 25% per year.

In fact, official agencies' predictions have often underestimated the industry's growth. The Irish government dramatically increased its own targets for solar generation from 2.5 GW to 8 GW by 2030 and recently announced the country had reached the milestone of 1 GW?- a win for the fight against climate change in Ireland!

Five years ago, student activist Greta Thunberg was honoured with Amnesty International’s “Ambassador of Conscience” award. In presenting the honour, Amnesty’s then Secretary General Kumi Naidoo said:

“We are humbled and inspired by the determination with which youth activists across the world are challenging us all to confront the realities of the climate crisis. Every young person taking part…embodies what it means to act on your conscience. They remind us that we are more powerful than we know and that we all have a role to play in protecting human rights against climate catastrophe.”

Like our colleagues at the International Renewable Energy Agency, we too know the important role that solar has to play in averting climate catastrophe. In Ireland, we’re well on our way to the significant numbers that can get us there and make a difference.