More options

Renewable Energy

Introduction

The Group of Experts on Renewable Energy was established to carry out action-oriented, practical activities on renewable energy. The Group of Experts on Renewable Energy focuses on activities that help significantly increase the uptake of renewable energy in the region and that help achieve the objective of access to energy for all in the UNECE region. The Group of Experts facilitates regulatory and policy dialogue and sharing of best practices on various renewable energy sources, including biomass, with a view to increasing the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.

GERE in a nutshell

Overview of Activities

Work Plan of the Group of Experts on Renewable Energy for 2022-2023

In focus

The REN21 UNECE Renewable Energy Status Report 2022: renewables and energy efficiency offer an opportunity for a secure and sovereign energy supply in the region.

Released on 14 September, the UNECE Renewable Energy Status Report 2022 was prepared jointly by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). It provides the latest update on the status of renewables and energy efficiency in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, the Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

The region has seen an unprecedented growth in renewable electricity since 2018. The transport and heating and cooling sectors have not seen such increases. Public and private investment in renewables across the focus countries remains modest compared to global growth trends. Countries of the region need significant investment in renewables.

Between 2017 and 2021, 17 countries of South-East and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, plus Kosovo, saw an unprecedented growth in renewable power capacity. Over this period, they cumulatively added 21 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, for a total installed renewable power capacity of 106 GW. For the first time, this growth was driven mainly by solar photovoltaic (PV) (58%) and wind power (25%) additions. The region’s wind power capacity grew by more than a factor of 7 and solar PV capacity by more than a factor of 10 between 2017 and 2021.

The report highlights how renewables and energy efficiency offer an opportunity for a secure and sovereign energy supply in the region, which continues to depend heavily on fossil fuel sources and relies on a limited number of energy exporters. Breakthrough growth in renewables in South-East and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia must be accelerated to end fossil dependency and boost energy security.

The REN21 UNECE Renewable Energy Status Report 2022 is available HERE.

The report was launched on 14 September 2022

Addressing the compounded food and energy crisis in Ukraine through innovative technologies and adaptive agricultural practices

UNECE is implementing extrabudgetary project “Addressing the compounded food and energy crisis in Ukraine through innovative technologies and adaptive agricultural practices.” The project is part of a Joint SDG Fund Development Emergency Modality – Response to the Global Crisis on Food, Energy, Finance project to be implemented in Ukraine. This project is implemented jointly with FAO (lead agency) and UNEP under the overall coordination of the Resident Coordinator Office in Ukraine.

The project is developed in response to the request of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food (MAPF) for support to address fuel shortages in the agriculture sector. The request comes as both petrol and diesel become increasingly scarce and expensive, impacting production capacity at all levels.

The overall objective of the joint project is to equip the Government of Ukraine with an objective and comprehensive analysis of the biofuel production potential to solve the compound food/energy crisis in Ukraine. The project will provide analysis on the current food and energy aspects of the crisis in the country to support an informed decision on a suitable biofuel strategy for Ukraine. The project will additionally identify appropriate technologies and adaptations within the agriculture sector which can be employed to alleviate negative impacts on food production and food security. The project seeks to stimulate innovations in production and along supply chains, namely in alternative fuel use and production practices.

UNECE will be in charge of analysing the normative and institutional framework in support of increasing the renewable energy uptake with special attention to bioenergy and of organizing a multistakeholder dialogue on how to use the untapped renewable energy potential, choice of a technological focus for the demonstration project and recommendations on needed normative and institutional changes.

News

Interest in UN Framework Classification for Resources heats up in geothermal community

08 December 2022

COP27: UN report shows pathways to carbon-neutrality in “energy intensive” steel, chemicals and cement industries

11 November 2022

Pre-COP27 UNECE Regional Forum warns action urgently needed on sustainable financing and use of Critical Raw Materials

18 October 2022

Highlights

UNECE Sustainable Energy Division is implementing extrabudgetary project “Addressing the compounded food and energy crisis in Ukraine through innovative technologies and adaptive agricultural practices.” Objective: To equip the Government of Ukraine with an objective and comprehensive analysis of the biofuel production potential to solve the compound food/energy crisis in Ukraine.

Financing Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Investments for Climate Change Mitigation - FINAL REPORT - The purpose of this final report is to review the implementation of the project Financing Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Investments for Climate Change Mitigation (FEEI) and to evaluate the extent to which the main project objectives were achieved. (7 November 2018)

UNECE Sustainable Energy Division implemented Menu of Efficient and Economic Technologies and Policies to Promote Them in the ECE Region is here proposed as a working document for a framework to exchange best practices in policies in order to accelerate renewable energy uptake in the region. It is the basis for a practical tool for collection, classification, exchange and use of information on concrete cases.

UNECE Sustainable Energy Division implemented a field project "Application of biogas technology model for rural areas in Kyrgyzstan: Objective: To introduce a cost-effective green technology biogas mode in the rural area of Kyrgyzstan. (October 2018)

UNECE Renewable Energy Status Report: Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) and the UNECE have joined together to produce the UNECE Regional Renewable Energy Status Report 2015: ToR of the UNECE Status Report.