As Global Wind Day draws near, an online action has been launched to put pressure on world leaders, ahead of the G8 summit on June 17-18, to keep their commitment to phase out fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy.
Global Wind Day is celebrated annually on June 15 and jointly organized by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).
According to the groups, the level of subsidies to fossil fuels has gone up by nearly 30% to $620 billion since 2010 and today fossil fuels receive six times more subsidies than does renewable energy.
"While world leaders pay lip service to combating climate change, what they are actually doing is subsidizing CO2 emissions to the tune of US$110/tonne. Fossil fuel energy subsidy reform could take us a long way toward protecting the climate," says Steve Sawyer, GWEC secretary general.
With the right policy support, the groups say wind could reach 1,000 GW by 2020, avoiding over 9 billion tons of CO2 emissions per year.
