4 September 2009: Working Group (WG) III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) held the second lead author meeting for the Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (SRREN) from 1-4 September 2009, in Oslo, Norway. The meeting was preceded by an expert meeting on Modeling Renewable Energies, held from 30-31 August 2009.

The expert meeting brought together modelers to discuss bottom-up and top-down approaches to the deployment of renewable energy technologies. One of the meeting outcomes was agreement on intensifying iterative communication between the two research communities. Following the expert meeting, the lead authors of the Special Report further outlined its structure. The report aims to answer key questions regarding the role of renewables in a coordinated climate protection effort. These questions address the contribution of renewable energies in a future with high energy demand or potential resource limitations and the role of Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) and nuclear energy in achieving ambitious climate protection goals. Conditions under which the combined deployment of CCS and biomass energy may become imperative are also addressed. SRREN is expected to be published in late 2010. [IPCC WG III press release]