The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) urged governments to pick up the pace of negotiations during the next 12 months in the run up to the Copenhagen summit at the end of 2009.

“We have seen very little concrete progress coming out of the Poznan talks, and time is not on our side,” said GWEC’s Secretary General, Steve Sawyer. “Private sector investors are looking to governments to prove their commitment to a post-2012 agreement. Clean energy businesses have a crucial role to play in achieving climate protection goals, but we need strong signals that governments intend to establish a clear and stable policy framework.”

Ministers arriving at the UNFCCC meeting in Poznan must send the business community a clear political signal that reaching a global deal on climate in Copenhagen is their priority.

Poznan is the first opportunity since the financial crisis for government leaders to signal that they remain committed to the Bali timetable for adopting an effective framework to incentivise businesses providing climate solutions by the end of 2009.

For the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), the Renewable Energy Directive, agreed today, confirms Europe as the leader of the energy revolution the world needs. The target means that more than one third of EU electricity must come from renewables in 2020 and wind energy will be the biggest contributor. Moreover, the directive addresses existing barriers that prevent Europe from fully exploiting its largest domestic energy resource.

Wind energy is on track to saving 10 billion tons of CO2 by 2020, according to a coalition of wind energy companies, associations and NGOs launching a global campaign at the COP14 climate summit in the Polish city of Poznan today.

With the Wind Power Works campaign (www.windpowerworks.net), the wind industry will demonstrate to global decision makers that wind energy is the leading power generation technology with the ability to achieve substantial cuts in CO2 emissions in the crucial timeframe up to 2020. By this time, global emissions need to peak and start to decline if we are to avoid the most disastrous effects of climate change.

Brussels, 12 November 2008. In its World Energy Oulook 2008 published today, the International Energy Agency warns of the dire global consequences of an inadequate response to the climate crisis, and calls for a radical retooling of the global energy system. The report recognises that renewables are key for this revolution, with wind power playing a leading role.