Renewable Energy and Its Role in Mitigating Climate Change

Abstract

Climate change is one of the most important global challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century. Increasing greenhouse gas emissions caused mostly by fossil fuels have led to increased global warming and created serious environmental, economic, and societal problems. Renewable energy has become the main means of lowering carbon emissions and promoting sustainable development. In this article, we will explore the potential of renewable energy in combating climate change in terms of its environmental, economic, and societal implications. This article presents an overview of relevant secondary literature, objectives, methodology, results, problems, and suggestions for future action. The qualitative and descriptive analysis of secondary sources was conducted in order to identify how renewable energy impacts the environment, economics, and society. It can be stated based on the findings that the use of renewable energy technologies, including solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, and biomass energy, can effectively decrease greenhouse gas emissions, enhance energy security, and foster sustainable economic growth. Nevertheless, some problems, like high start-up costs, technological issues, intermittency, and insufficient governmental policies exist.