The renewable energy campaign calls for a 50% renewable energy standard by 2020 and carbon neutrality by 2030 in the Dominican Republic. Currently, the Dominican government has a renewable energy law that uses a renewable energy fund worth $200 million per year to develop renewable energy in the electricity and transport sectors. Already, there are 410 MW of wind energy to be installed in the next two years, 100 million Euros invested in solar energy production, and over $200 million invested in ethanol. In order to meet a 50% renewable enery target by 2020, Romana Sostenible's Renewable Energy Campaign calls on the tourism sector, represented by the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants, to invest 2% of its total monetary demand (worth more than $200 million per year) to develop renewable energies. With this investment, it is very likely that the Dominican Republic can reach this target and another target of carbon neutrality by the year 2030.
Approving this call would largely benefit the country and the tourism sector itself. Among the benefits are:
- Stabilized electricity prices at less than half the current price, which would allow for unimpeded, strong economic growth.
- The creation of more than 1 million new jobs, which would in turn reduce crime and population growth, increase economic growth, and set the nation as a technological leader in and a potential exporter of renewable energy technologies.
- The privilege of the tourism sector to be the principal energy supplier for the country and the main financial beneficiary of energy sales.
- Reduced greenhouse gas emissions at a scale that shows the developed nations the kind of leadership necessary to avert tipping points, which require the world to reduce global emissions 60% below 2005 levels by 2030.
The Dominican Republic has over 25,000 GW-hours of wind potential (60,000 if all non-excellent sites are included), excluding offshore, a virtually infite solar potential, enough sugar cane to meet domestic fuel demand, and additional hydro potential (this does not include wave and tidal energy). With these vast resources, renewable energy could potentially supply most of the country's energy demand.
The campaign's strategy involves the building of support by companies, organizations, and government agencies behind the proposal. A coalition of supportive companies and organizations is being built to garner support for this proposal before a formal presentation is delivered to the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants. Once the Association approves the proposal, the coalition will ask the Tourism Secretariat to work with the government to pass a law for government-private collaboration that will facilitate a long-term plan to meet the national targets.
Along with this campaign, a similar effort is being organized for the same target on the entire Caribbean region, since it's highly dependent on tourism. With these bold actions taken by developing countries, the developed world (especially the United States) should take notice and be convinced that bold action to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 60% below 2005 levels by 2030 will be highly beneficial to the world.