Business leaders and policymakers gathered for a World Future...

Business leaders and policymakers gathered for a World Future Energy Summit

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Some 15,000 delegates gathered for the summit in Abu Dhabi to discuss the potential and development of renewable energy into the coming century. Machnig, who is the State Secretary for the German Environment Ministry, quoted a study on green energy by his country that concluded the global environmental technology market was worth €1.4 trillion ($2.96 trillion) now and will hit €3.1 trillion by 2020.

“This will become one of the biggest markets in the world, bigger than automotive,” he said. “This shows the potential of the sector and the possibilities for investment in the coming years.

“We are standing at the beginning of the third industrial revolution because that is what is needed [to counter carbon emissions],” said Machnig. “We can’t afford because of the economic crisis to postpone action on climate change, because the consequences of climate change are greater than those of the economic crisis.”

Governor General Quentin Bryce, meanwhile, called Australia a “superpower” in the field of energy and asserted there was a commitment here to the development of clean coal technologies, labelling carbon capture and storage as “vital”. She devoted more than a quarter of her speech to talking on coal before going on to list key Australian achievements in the renewables and climate change fields.

“The challenge of climate change is daunting, but the opportunity it provides to bring together the world’s people is inspiring,” she told attendees. “Australia will play its full part in the global effort to make sure we seize that opportunity.

Because of Australia’s position as the world’s largest exporter of coal, and the potential impact of climate change on the country, “it has a critical contribution to make in the development of cleaner electricity from coal,” she said, noting the Federal Government’s recently announced Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute.

Some 100 countries, including Germany, Spain and Denmark are expected to sign a founding treaty of an International Agency for Renewable Energies (IRENA) early next week, Abu Dhabi leaders announced at the close of the summit.

The body will compile information on renewables and co-ordinate technology sharing between member states.

In a closing address, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the world needs to “summon the will and wit” to sign a climate treaty this year that includes the US.

“The decisions of 2009 will determine the world in 2029 or 2049. Let us put economic growth and combating climate change in alliance, not opposition,” he said.

He said industrialised countries, and eventually, developing nations, would need to commit to tough interim targets to show “serious intent” and provide certainty for businesses to invest in low carbon technologies.