INSIGHT: WWF sees effective use of renewable energy by 2050

Adequate investment is needed to ensure many people access electricity. 

Posted  Saturday, November 1  2014 at  11:06

In Summary

• A shift to renewable energy, if successful, will mitigate to a considerable extent climate change impacts in Tanzania

Tanga. It is a dreaded fact – millions of people in the world, notably from poor countries, lack access to electricity. But this trend can easily be reversed through concerted efforts to promote renewable energy. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) believes that if transition from the current
unsustainable energy paradigm to a future powered by entirely renewable energy supply is given preference there is the possibility many people will access power.

According to an energy report entitled “Clean Power for Our Planet” produced by the WWF, only by making such a forward looking transition will the world be able to avoid worst impacts of climate change. Under its vision, the WWF aims at 100 per cent use of renewable energy by 2050.

The Tanzania branch of WWF has decided to lead by example in fulfilling that. It is implementing a project that ensures renewable energy solutions meet all energy needs by 2050. According to WWF-Tanzania extractives and renewables coordinator Teresia Olemako. The project’s objective is to ensure increased capacity and engagement of the civil society and a sustainable energy transition in the country are part of a larger sustainable energy transition in eastern and southern Africa.

The project, which was launched this year, also corresponds to the WWF Vision as shown in the Clean Power for Our Planet report, a WWF’s ground-breaking energy study that seeks to help change a conventional paradigm for the energy sector and articulate a new paradigm for the future.

The energy report provides a meticulously researched scenario that reflects a truly alternative vision for the energy future and what such a scenario implies for society at large. According to Ms Olemako, the WWF aims at enabling the entire population to afford renewable energy by 2050.  “The project we are running aims at ensuring that the capacity and engagement of the civil society in enabling a sustainable energy transition in Tanzania is significantly increased by 2017,” says Ms Olemako.

Under the project, four villages have been selected to become renewable energy village models, where various types of the technology will be tested as part of the efforts of the transition towards sustainable energy.

The villages were selected by several civil society organisations involved in the project across the country, using criteria set by Dr Francis Njau of the Institute of Rural Planning, who led a group of experts from various organisations in implementing a similar project popularly known as Chololo Eco Village.

Chololo is a model of good practice in climate change adaptation and mitigation empowering a community to test, evaluate and take up 26 climate change innovations in agriculture, livestock keeping, water, energy and forestry.

Chololo Eco Village is a part of The Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA), an initiative of the European Union. The GCCA is a global alliance with a focus on helping the most vulnerable developing countries to more effectively address the challenges associated with climate change.

The four villages are Mabilioni in the Northern Zone, Miyuyu (Coastal Zone), Pandagichiza in the Lake Zone and Mkungugu in the Southern Zone. Ms Olemako said they hoped that what would be done in the model villages would pave the way for more use of renewable sources such as wind, solar, biogas and sustainable biomass use. “This is in line with the WWF vision of 100 per cent renewable energy for the entire population by 2050,” she said.

The envisaged results of the proposed renewable energy villages include testing and taking up different types of renewable energy and achieving increased availability of cleaner and more sustainable biomass energy apart from increasing the incomes of villagers in the model villages.

Others are improved livelihoods, the villages becoming models of good practices in the use of renewable energy (multiplier effect). The choice of the model villages depended on the degree of vulnerability to energy and that they should be rural communities that do not have electricity.