The Need for a Shift to Renewable Energy

Running Head: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT 1
Environmental Management for Sustainable Development
Name:
Institution

Environmental Management for Sustainable Development 2
The need for a shift to renewable energy: How the International community and
Multinational corporations are affecting the transition.
Renewable energy is integral in the global carbon footprint. These energies differ greatly
from the non-renewable energy sources such as fossil energy because of their potential,
abundance, and diversity. Additionally, renewable energy sources do not produce greenhouses
gases that have been greatly attributed to the rise of environmental degradation. The advent of
technology and the increasing pace in investments towards renewable energy sources have
greatly boosted the implementation of renewable energy policies. Countries such as the United
States still relies heavily on non-renewable energy sources such as natural gas, oil, and coal
(Aghaei & Alizadeh, 2013). Apart from these sources emitting dangerous greenhouses gas, they
are limiting in that they can be depleted and become too expensive to acquire them. Most of the
renewable energy comes from the sun. The solar energy can be used for heating and lighting
both commercially and in industries. Wind energy is another form of renewable energy that is
harnessed by wind turbines and turned into energy. Another form of renewable energy is
hydroelectric power. This form of energy is harnessed from water, which turns turbines that in
the end produce electricity. Following the increasing environmental degradation and the risk of
non-renewable energy sources running to depletion, there is an ongoing consensus among the
international community and worldwide multinationals to shift to renewable energy sources.
Multinational corporations such as Walmart, are embracing solar energy that is more efficient
and sustainable.

Environmental Management for Sustainable Development 3
The renewable energy sources are more environmentally friendly, sustainable and do not face the
risk of running out. According to the international energy agency, the projection of demand for
electricity globally by 2040 will have increased by 70 percent (Dimitrov, 2016). The
international community signed the Paris Accord during the World Climate Summit in 2015
(Falkner, 2016). This accord seeks to reduce global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius and
provide a global objective of reducing emissions by 2020.
Among the needs of embracing renewable energy sources is the long term certainty they
offer. The international community has developed policies that offer financial support and
implementation guidelines in an attempt to curb climatic change. An example of this is the
Sustainable Energy for all initiative that was launched in 2011 by the United Nations (Stigka,
Paravantis & Mihalakakou, 2014). The objectives of this initiative were to achieve universal
access to modern energy services, doubling the share of renewable energy across the globe, and
improving energy efficiency by 2030. The average infrastructures for renewable energy such as
solar panels, wind turbines, and hydro-electric turbines are built to produce efficient service over
an extended period of time. The renewable energy sources are sustainable because they can
never go into depletion (Ellabban, Abu-Rub & Blaabjerg, 2014). Green energy sources can,
therefore, guarantee a steady supply of energy for many years, unlike the non-renewable sources.
Huge multinational corporations such as Walmart are increasingly embracing the use of green
energy.