COP26: Green Tech to Become Cheaper

A plan to coordinate the global introduction of clean technologies to drive down costs quickly has been agreed at the COP26 summit in Glasgow.

The move to green energy, such as batteries, and electric vehicles is vital to tackling the climate crisis and economies of scale mean costs plummet as production increases – this is something that has already been seen with solar panels and LED light bulbs.

Over 40 nations have pledged that they would align standards and coordinate investment to speed up production and bring forward the place at which green technologies are more affordable and accessible than fossil-fueled alternatives. When this happens, the transition and cuts to emissions can accelerate the move to a net zero economy.

The UK, US, China, India, the EU and Australia have all signed up to this Breakthrough Agenda. The first five breakthroughs will be clean electricity, electric vehicles, green steel, hydrogen and sustainable farming. The goal is to make these affordable and available to all nations by 2030 and create 20m new jobs.

In the past decade, the cost of solar panels, LED bulbs and lithium ion batteries have plunged by around 90%, with solar and wind power now the cheapest in the world. By coordinating signals to industry, policies and standards, research and investments, each government aims to push production up to push prices down for other technologies.

This push is good news for greener technologies, with a recent Oxford University study estimating that the costs of clean energy technologies, including batteries and hydrogen electrolysers could fall by 45% by 2030 and 75% by 2050 with quick deployment.

World leaders have committed to discussing and strengthening the world’s progress on breakthroughs every year.

UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said, “By making clean technology the most affordable, accessible and attractive choice, the default go-to in what are currently the most polluting sectors, we can cut emissions right around the world.”

Battery power is the future

One of the fears many users have in making the switch from petrol power tools to battery power tools is price. Some fear the technology is too expensive to make the switch to a tool they’ve never used before. The news that the world’s biggest nations are moving to make batteries more affordable offers the chance for more people to make the switch.

As COP26 is highlighting, using fossil fuel as a power source is unsustainable. Not only is the continuous sourcing of fossil fuels hugely damaging to the planet, but the use of burning such fuels is harming our health and our environment. By leaving petrol in the past, we can cut emissions down and help tackle climate change.

Challenge 2025 was launched last year by EGO to encourage the world to embrace greener gardening equipment. We produced The Report and commissioned emissions testing of the most popular petrol-powered products on the market to provide evidence of the true damage petrol tools are doing to our planet and what must be done to make looking after our green spaces safer for all.

Discover more about our work and take up the challenge today by downloading The Report here: https://www.challenge2025.eu/thereport/.

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