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05 POLICY LANDSCAPE
Nearly all countries worldwide now have renewable energy
support policies in place. As of year-end 2015, renewable energy
policies could be found in 146 countries, up slightly from the
145 countries reported in the Renewables 2015 Global Status
Report (GSR 2015) i . Countries around the world continue to
develop new policy measures for renewable energy that remove
barriers, attract investment, drive deployment, foster innovation
and encourage greater flexibility in energy infrastructure. 1 (p See
Table 4.)
In 2015, renewable energy technologies were highlighted as
a means to mitigate emissions and to adapt to the impacts of
climate change in the lead-up to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 21st Conference
of the Parties (COP21) in Paris. Building on the goals of the
Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative, the new Sustainable
Development Goals adopted in 2015 include renewable
energy and energy efficiency as important pillars of the global
commitment to end poverty, protect the environment and ensure
prosperity for all. 2
Policy makers at the national and sub-national levels continued
to grapple with themes that have shaped renewable energy
policy discussions in recent years, including revising existing
mechanisms to keep pace with changing market conditions,
creating new policies that respond to the technical and nontechnical
challenges of higher renewable energy shares, and
expanding renewable energy in the heating, cooling and transport
sectors. Renewable energy for power generation continued to
receive the majority of attention from policy makers in 2015.
Some notable regional policy trends – explored in more detail in
this chapter – include:
n Africa: Several African countries increased their renewable
energy targets in 2015; in many African countries, the targeted
shares for renewables now rank among the highest in the
world.
The majority of the 15 ECOWAS member countries completed
their National Renewable Energy Action Plans.
n Asia and the Pacific: China and India both increased their
renewable energy targets.
Indian states were particularly active in expanding policies to
promote renewable power deployment through the adoption
of new net metering policies and the use of tendering.
Multiple Pacific Island nations outlined ambitious visions for
renewable energy deployment by introducing 100% renewable
energy targets in 2015.
n Europe: The EU adopted a new regionally binding target,
calling for a minimum of 27% renewable energy in final energy
consumption by 2030.
Countries began to implement the EU policy shift from feed-in
tariffs (FITs) to tendering mechanisms.
In response to sustainability concerns, the European
Commission introduced regulations on the use of firstgeneration
biofuels to meet the region’s 2020 renewable
transport goals.
Support for renewable heat increased, including increased
targets in France and new renewable heat incentive schemes
in Eastern Europe.
n Latin America and Caribbean: Countries across the region
continued to establish some of the world’s highest targeted
shares for renewable energy deployment.
The region remains at the forefront of the use of competitive
bidding for renewable energy project allocation, with many
tenders attracting record-setting participation and low bid
prices.
n Middle East: Renewable energy tendering expanded across
the region, with new tenders taking place in Iraq, Jordan and
the United Arab Emirates.
New support for renewable power projects was introduced
through new net metering policies and new fiscal incentives.
n North America: The US federal investment and production
tax credits were extended.
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South Africa garnered another impressive showing in the latest
round of its renewable tendering programme and began using
the same model to support biofuels.
Many states expanded existing Renewable Portfolio Standards
(RPS), including increased commitments from California and
New York and the country’s first 100% RPS in Hawaii.
The roll-back of net metering incentives, which began in 2014,
continued in 2015.
i All GSR estimates for the numbers of countries with policies and targets are based on the best information available to REN21 at the time. This chapter
includes policy developments from calendar year 2015.
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