IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v14y2023i1d10.1038_s41467-023-40356-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The contribution of corporate initiatives to global renewable electricity deployment

Author

Listed:
  • Florian Egli

    (Energy and Technology Policy Group, ETH Zurich
    Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, UCL)

  • Rui Zhang

    (Energy and Technology Policy Group, ETH Zurich)

  • Victor Hopo

    (Energy and Technology Policy Group, ETH Zurich)

  • Tobias Schmidt

    (Energy and Technology Policy Group, ETH Zurich
    Institute for Science, Technology and Policy, ETH Zurich)

  • Bjarne Steffen

    (Institute for Science, Technology and Policy, ETH Zurich
    Climate Finance Policy Group, ETH Zurich)

Abstract

Climate change is gaining importance on the agenda of senior decision makers in the private sector. Hence, corporate renewable electricity (RE) procurement may become more relevant to the energy transition. RE100 is the largest corporate initiative to foster RE procurement with 315 corporate members as of 2021. Yet, the contribution of such initiatives to the energy transition remains unclear, because public reporting is aggregated on the global level. Here, we develop an approach to map the electricity procured by RE100 companies to jurisdictions worldwide, which allows estimating whether and where RE100 can have a transformative impact. We find that these companies source electricity in 129 jurisdictions, accounting for

Suggested Citation

  • Florian Egli & Rui Zhang & Victor Hopo & Tobias Schmidt & Bjarne Steffen, 2023. "The contribution of corporate initiatives to global renewable electricity deployment," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-40356-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40356-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40356-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-40356-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Takeshi Kuramochi & Mark Roelfsema & Angel Hsu & Swithin Lui & Amy Weinfurter & Sander Chan & Thomas Hale & Andrew Clapper & Andres Chang & Niklas Höhne, 2020. "Beyond national climate action: the impact of region, city, and business commitments on global greenhouse gas emissions," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 275-291, March.
    2. Oskar Krabbe & Giel Linthorst & Kornelis Blok & Wina Crijns-Graus & Detlef P. van Vuuren & Niklas Höhne & Pedro Faria & Nate Aden & Alberto Carrillo Pineda, 2015. "Aligning corporate greenhouse-gas emissions targets with climate goals," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(12), pages 1057-1060, December.
    3. Simon Dietz & Charles Fruitiere & Carlota Garcia-Manas & William Irwin & Bruno Rauis & Rory Sullivan, 2018. "An assessment of climate action by high-carbon global corporations," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(12), pages 1072-1075, December.
    4. Gokul Iyer & Yang Ou & James Edmonds & Allen A. Fawcett & Nathan Hultman & James McFarland & Jay Fuhrman & Stephanie Waldhoff & Haewon McJeon, 2022. "Ratcheting of climate pledges needed to limit peak global warming," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(12), pages 1129-1135, December.
    5. Dani Rodrik, 2018. "New Technologies, Global Value Chains, and the Developing Economies," CESifo Working Paper Series 7307, CESifo.
    6. Michaja Pehl & Anders Arvesen & Florian Humpenöder & Alexander Popp & Edgar G. Hertwich & Gunnar Luderer, 2017. "Understanding future emissions from low-carbon power systems by integration of life-cycle assessment and integrated energy modelling," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(12), pages 939-945, December.
    7. Steffen, Bjarne & Matsuo, Tyeler & Steinemann, Davita & Schmidt, Tobias S., 2018. "Opening new markets for clean energy: The role of project developers in the global diffusion of renewable energy technologies," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(4), pages 553-587, December.
    8. Diluiso, Francesca & Walk, Paula & Manych, Niccolò & Cerutti, Nicola & Chipiga, Vladislav & Workman, Annabelle & Ayas, Ceren & Cui, Ryna Yiyun & Cui, Diyang & Song, Kaihui & Banisch, Lucy A. & Moretti, 2021. "Coal transitions—part 1: a systematic map and review of case study learnings from regional, national, and local coal phase-out experiences," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 16(11).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rossana Mastrandrea & Rob ter Burg & Yuli Shan & Klaus Hubacek & Franco Ruzzenenti, 2022. "Scaling laws in global corporations as a benchmarking approach to assess environmental performance," Papers 2206.03148, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2023.
    2. Dietz, Simon & Gardiner, Dan & Jahn, Valentin & Noels, Jolien, 2021. "How ambitious are oil and gas companies’ climate goals?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112536, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Ivan Ruiz Manuel & Kornelis Blok, 2023. "Quantitative evaluation of large corporate climate action initiatives shows mixed progress in their first half-decade," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Simone Cenci & Matteo Burato & Marek Rei & Maurizio Zollo, 2023. "The alignment of companies' sustainability behavior and emissions with global climate targets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Biying Yu & Zihao Zhao & Yi-Ming Wei & Lan-Cui Liu & Qingyu Zhao & Shuo Xu & Jia-Ning Kang & Hua Liao, 2023. "Approaching national climate targets in China considering the challenge of regional inequality," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    6. Gumber, Anurag & Zana, Riccardo & Steffen, Bjarne, 2024. "A global analysis of renewable energy project commissioning timelines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    7. Stefan Pahl & Marcel P. Timmer, 2020. "Do Global Value Chains Enhance Economic Upgrading? A Long View," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(9), pages 1683-1705, July.
    8. Emblemsvåg, Jan, 2022. "Wind energy is not sustainable when balanced by fossil energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    9. Jing-Li Fan & Zezheng Li & Xi Huang & Kai Li & Xian Zhang & Xi Lu & Jianzhong Wu & Klaus Hubacek & Bo Shen, 2023. "A net-zero emissions strategy for China’s power sector using carbon-capture utilization and storage," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, December.
    10. Joël Cariolle & Maëlan le Goff, 2023. "Spatial Internet Spillovers in Manufacturing," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(8), pages 1163-1186, August.
    11. Wang, Derek D. & Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki, 2018. "Climate change mitigation targets set by global firms: Overview and implications for renewable energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 386-398.
    12. Yang, Wei & Wang, Xueke, 2024. "The impact of patent protection on technological innovation: A global value chain division of labor perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    13. Jayme Walenta, 2020. "Climate risk assessments and science‐based targets: A review of emerging private sector climate action tools," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(2), March.
    14. Suma Athreye & Lucia Piscitello & Kenneth C. Shadlen, 2020. "Twenty-five years since TRIPS: Patent policy and international business," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(4), pages 315-328, December.
    15. Parrish Bergquist & Christopher Warshaw, 2023. "How climate policy commitments influence energy systems and the economies of US states," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    16. Beuse, Martin & Dirksmeier, Mathias & Steffen, Bjarne & Schmidt, Tobias S., 2020. "Profitability of commercial and industrial photovoltaics and battery projects in South-East-Asia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    17. Dechezleprêtre, Antoine & Fabre, Adrien & Kruse, Tobias & Planterose, Bluebery & Chico, Ana Sanchez & Stantcheva, Stefanie, 2022. "Fighting Climate Change: International Attitudes Toward Climate Policies," CEPR Discussion Papers 17602, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Salah, Mostafa M. & Saeed, Ahmed & Mousa, Mohamed & Abouelatta, Mohamed & Zekry, A. & Shaker, Ahmed & Amer, Fathy Z. & Mubarak, Roaa I., 2024. "Numerical analysis of carbon-based perovskite tandem solar cells: Pathways towards high efficiency and stability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PB).
    19. Hidalgo, Camila & Micco, Alejandro, 2024. "Computerization, offshoring and trade: The effect on developing countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    20. -, 2020. "The Caribbean Outlook: Forging a people-centred approach to sustainable development post-COVID-19," Libros y Documentos Institucionales, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 46192 edited by Eclac, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-40356-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.