WHY NOT, LEBANON?
Let`s go back a bit and remember what 2020 should have been for the Energy sector. For those who don’t know or forgot: In 2009, during the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Lebanese Government committed to increasing the share of renewables in the country to 12% of the projected total electricity and heat demand by 2020. Ambitious, considering the lack of renewable energy projects in Lebanon at that moment. In late 2018, Prime Minister Saad Hariri has ushered in a new renewable energy target of 30% for the year 2030. Well done, we applaud your high dreams, but on what grounds? How do we get there? Or committing to a target is like a Hocus-Pocus spell and with a secretly magic wound (secret weapon used by Lebanese Government “to solve" problems by pretending it doesn`t exist) it turns into reality and solar panels, wind farms appear and people will wake up of energy efficiency and …? Because, in that case, something went wrong with the spell! Most of the people have read “The Secret – The Law of Attraction”, some might have just seen the movie, but don`t get fooled by the “visualize your desires and they will come true”. I am pretty sure that does not work with electricity or renewable energy, or any other energy reforms, for that matter. For those wondering: NO, it doesn`t work for economic and financial problems either. The real world actually works in another way, and I will give an example, or two, or even more. Over the past 5 years, Costa Rica has achieved 95% renewable electricity. Their target was entirely carbon-neutral in 2021.
In 2012, Nicaragua invested the fifth-highest percentage worldwide of its GDP in developing renewable energies. Their target is 90% renewable energy by 2020, with the majority of electricity coming from wind, solar and g e ot h e r m a l s o u r c e s . Germany produced in the first half of 2018 enough renewable energy to power every home in the country a whole year. Their target is 65% renewable energy by 2030, even if we are talking about a not-so-sunny country of more the 80 million people. Denmark gets over half of its electricity from wind and solar power and in 2017, 43% of its electricity consumption was from wind – a new world record! That’s the highest percentage of wind power ever achieved worldwide. The country aims to be 100% fossil-fuel-free by 2050. Uruguay, almost 100 % powered by renewables, almost after less than 10 years of effort. How is Lebanon after 10 years? All of the above, and other, had strategies and plans that were implemented to get to that percentage. It wasn’t luck or a better spell or visualization, but it was a good strategy and implementation of the regulations needed. Most of you, especially if Lebanese, will say: but we had a war, and we had 1,5 million refugees, and we had/have political issues, and we did not have a president for a while, and corruption, the problems with the grid, external debts. And I keep forgetting “Lebanese mentality” and all the nonsense that makes you sleep better in the night! All the excuses are not
