Grid Talk: NGOs Pitch in to Achieve High Sustainability Goals

“It’s about bringing ideas to the table but also putting them into action.” 

David Waskow, Director of International Climate Initiatives, World Resources Institute 

The world is stepping up its effort to combat climate change but mountainous challenges loom, according to David Waskow, director of International Climate Initiatives at the World Resources Institute NGOs, non-governmental organizations, are shoulder to shoulder with national governments’ stepped up engagement, he told the U.S. Department of Energy Gridtalk
podcast. 

“We’re both making a lot of progress and have enormous challenges ahead of us,” he said. 

“If you look at where renewables are now, if you look at the surge in electric vehicles, all of that is quite clear and we should embrace that while at the same time recognizing that we still are on track for a trajectory of 2½ or perhaps upwards degrees Celsius in warming,” he said. 

Some countries are making notable progress. “The surge in renewables in India is just quite remarkable and there over 100 gigawatts at the moment I believe, and continuing to grow rapidly,” he said. Much awaits tackling.

“I think one thing we haven’t taken into account is … the depth of transformation that we need,” he said. “We are moving quickly on EVs but all the evidence is that we’re not only going to have to do EVs at a massive scale, we’re also going to have to shift to other modes of transport than passenger vehicles,” he said.