France becomes the leader of the G20 market in renewable energy investments

According to the Allianz 2018 Climate and Energy Monitoring Report, the leader of the G20 in renewable energy investments was France, which jumped two places to the top this year. France was followed by Germany and the United Kingdom. The report stressed the need for G20 countries to develop and implement more ambitious, consistent, transparent and long-term strategies to improve the investment climate for renewable energies. The third edition of the Allianz 2018 Climate and Energy Monitoring Report, in which Allianz examines the investment climate and investments made for renewable energy in G20 countries, has been published. According to the report prepared by Allianz in cooperation with Germanwatch and the NewClimate Institute; Most G20 countries, including developing countries, have improved their conditions for low-carbon energy investments over the past year. Despite this, countries still have a long way to go in improving their policy frameworks to provide the best conditions for investment in renewables. Emphasizing that G20 countries should invest USD 886 billion annually in the energy sector to comply with the climate targets of the Paris Agreement, the report pointed out that the G20 should develop and implement more ambitious, consistent and transparent long-term strategies to improve the investment climate for renewable energies. Commenting on the report, Katharina Latif, Head of Corporate Responsibility of the Allianz Group, said: "The development of the renewable energy sector is very important in terms of compliance with the climate targets of the Paris Agreement. These challenges can only be overcome through the joint efforts of the relevant governments, companies and non-governmental organizations." According to the report, the leader of the G20 in renewable energy investments was France, which jumped two places to the top this year. France was followed by Germany and the United Kingdom, respectively. The best policy and market environment, which is considered an important criterion for long-term investments and complex projects such as solar and wind farms, is found in these three countries. In France, Germany and the United Kingdom, renewable energy projects generally benefit from good market and investment conditions, as well as a largely positive political environment, said Professor Niklas Höhne, Director General of the NewClimate Institute, "However, even in the best-performing countries, there are still shortcomings. Tenders for new facilities by France are not given enough bids. Wind investment is on a downward trend due to Germany's new auction rules. The solar market in the UK has collapsed following political reforms." The report found that the biggest improvements this year were seen in Brazil and Italy, which jumped to very high levels compared to last year. The biggest investment needs are in China, India and the US In the Allianz 2018 Climate and Energy Monitoring Report; With federal support for renewable energy policies declining, the U.S. fell two spots to ninth. In the United States, where the number of newly installed wind and solar energy facilities decreased in 2017, USD 57 billion was invested in renewable energy during this period. That's barely a third of the $158 billion in capital needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. According to the data in the report, China, which ranks fifth, doubled its investments in this area compared to 2017 and invested USD 133 billion. This figure was far below the annual investment of approximately USD 314 billion demanded in the energy sector. In India, which ranks tenth, the prevalence of solar energy has doubled, while the prevalence of wind energy has also increased. Despite this, India, which invested $ 11 billion in renewable energy last year, has barely reached a minimum annual investment volume of USD 160 billion required to comply with climate targets in the energy sector. While most of the G20 countries continued to develop their policies to support renewable energy in 2017, Turkey, which is in the last place in this regard, made a rapid start for the spread of renewable energy with the opening of the YEKA tender. Turkey has also been among the countries that have increased photovoltaic solar energy capacity the most, along with other emerging economies such as India, Brazil and China. What matters is how policies are implemented Among the G20 countries, only a few countries are pursuing a strategy of full decarbonization in the energy sector. While almost all G20 countries, with the exception of the US, have agreed to reduce theirCO2 emission limits to net zero by 2050, only the UK has decided to implement a binding and ambitious long-term plan to decarbonise the energy system. But even the UK has yet to develop any short-term renewable energy targets. The efforts of Brazil, France and Germany, which have short-term renewable energy targets, have remained sufficient to increase the growth rate of the renewable energy sector to the level demanded by the Paris Agreement. Jan Burck, an employee of Germanwatch, one of the authors of the report, stressed that the important issue here is not whether countries have started to implement policies, but how they have implemented them. "The most fundamental challenges are uneven policy support, inadequate implementation of support policies, and backward policy design," Jan Burck said. The role of insurance companies in renewable energy As investors with strong capital with long-term investment perspectives, insurance companies, with their risk management expertise, can play an important role in renewable energy projects. Allianz, one of the first insurers to set itself long-term climate targets to support the transition to a climate-friendly economy by meeting the "two degrees Celsius" (2°C) target of the Paris Climate Agreement and financing renewable energies, will both end coal investments and phase out insurance coverage for such risks by 2040.