People can expect a catastrophic 50% global increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and worsening air pollution by 2050 unless politicians rapidly work together to find sustainable growth policies, a new report by the OECD has found.

The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation report also noted that world energy demand in less than four decades could be 80% higher and still 85% reliant on fossil fuel-based energy unless radically new development paths are chosen.

The OECD warned governments take action now to prevent irreversible environmental damage even as they struggle with the ongoing financial crisis and high unemployment.

Sophie Westlake tells the EWEA blog about a new website that aims to collect as many facts as possible on the benefits of Europe’s climate and energy policies…

Sceptics argue that climate change and sustainable energy policies will damage Europe’s economy, but do you believe delayed action in deploying renewable energy technologies could actually be cheaper in the long-run? Do you really think that climate action is a genuine threat to European jobs?

Well the short answer for me is “not really”… But then you probably want a little more detail than that…

Some strange news has emerged from the World Coal Association recently: the WCA claims that wind turbines use a large amount of coal during their production. At the European Wind Energy Association we recognise that energy is needed during the manufacturing and transport of wind turbines as well as during installation site works, but the amounts suggested by the WCA are way above the reality.

In fact, a wind turbine consumes less than 1g of coal per kilo-Watt hour of electricity produced over its full lifecycle. A coal plant, meanwhile, will consume over 300 times this amount per kWh of electricity, assuming a 40% average efficiency. Moreover, one wind turbine pays back the coal it uses during production with just one month of operation. Looking at all fossil energies used during the lifecycle of a wind turbine, the ‘fossil fuel debt’ ranges from 3-8 months of turbine operation.

Once upon a time, long ago, some people had a wonderful dream, of a Europe running on green, renewable energy. However, there seemed to be no way of doing this, so they were mostly dismissed as idealists and hippies.

However, many years later in 2011, renewable energy technologies had developed so much and become such a normal part of life that a 100% renewable energy economy was considered an economically and technologically realistic vision for Europe in 2050 and supported by 200 companies.

The vision has now been set out in a declaration drawn up by Greenpeace, the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) and the European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources (EUFORES).

The growing public hunger for more sustainable products took a unique path earlier this week with news that some of world’s leading companies and non-profit organisations are supporting the development of the first global consumer label identifying products made with wind energy.

In announcing the WindMade initiative, Steve Sawyer, Secretary General of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), said an international survey of more than 25,000 consumers shows 92% of respondents believe renewable energy is a good solution to mitigating climate change, and most of them would prefer products made with wind energy, even at a premium.

“Governments are dragging their feet, but consumers want to see change now,” said Sawyer, who is also the interim CEO of WindMade. “The private sector needs to step up to provide the solutions we need to respond to the global energy and climate crises. With WindMade, we want to facilitate the change that the public demands.”