Global smart grid offers solutions to climate change, biodiversity loss

A globally interconnected smart grid of renewable energy sources could offer a transformative solution in tackling the interconnected global challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss concurrently, according to a report from an international NGO in China.

The report was unveiled on the sidelines of the ongoing COP16 United Nations biodiversity conference in Cali, Colombia on Friday by Beijing-headquartered Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO).

The global energy interconnection is envisioned to be a globally interconnected smart grid with an ultrahigh voltage grid as the backbone, which could serve as a platform for development, deployment and utilization of clean energy worldwide.

Liu Zehong, executive vice-chairman of GEIDCO, emphasized that the establishment of the global energy interconnection holds profound significance.

It not only fulfills the energy requirements for socio-economic advancement, but also optimizes the preservation of ecosystems, fostering a sustainable development model where progress and conservation harmoniously advance hand in hand, he noted.

Building the GEI will accelerate the thorough development of clean, electrified energy, and by 2050, the share of primary energy that is clean and the global rate of electrification are projected to exceed 80 percent and 60 percent respectively, according to the report.

This will do much to protect terrestrial and marine habitats from rising temperatures and essentially maintain the distribution of existing species, it noted.

Building the GEI and fully integrating biodiversity conservation into energy and electricity development will significantly reduce the adverse impacts of energy utilization on habitat, it said.

The effort is estimated to avoid the extinction of more than 40 percent of bird species and more than 60 percent of amphibians, the report said.