15 December

If we are to fulfill the target indicated by science of 25-40 per cent emissions reduction by 2020, wind power can contribute 21-34 per cent of those cuts, said Secretary General in GWEC, Steve Sawyer at a side event at COP15.

The side event took place at the Global Platform at the COP15 venue and attracted a crowd interested to discuss how wind power can contribute to climate change mitigation within the UN climate change policy framework.

The main focus of the side event was thelarge-scale use of renewable energy technologies, particularly wind power.

Christian Kjaer, CEO of the European Wind Energy Association outlined the historic expansion of wind power in Europe.“The capacity of wind power installed last year was larger than the capacity of nuclear installed overthe last decade,” said Christian Kjaer, stressing that wind power is the only technology that can be deployed rapidly at large scale and that it is abundant in practically every European country, not to mention the rest of the world.

Jens Moberg, CEO of Project Better Place stressed that exploiting the power of wind can enable us to maintain our current lifestyle, which includes comfortable and flexible transportation, while at the same time reducing emissions.

The electric car is the technological revolution that has been missing since the very first Ford T left the factory in 1908. Now is the time to change this system since “driving an electric car is not a lesser experience but a better experience,” Jens Moberg said.

A recharged battery will last 160km; 95% of car journeys are well under 160km.

The electric car is a better experience than today’s models says Moberg – they are silent but with the same performance and speed of conventional petrol-powered cars.

Read Christian Kjaer's full speech here.