Renewable Energy and Climate Change Annotated
Bibliography
Research on renewable energy as a climate solution, its life-cycle emissions, policy framework, and vulnerability to climate
change
1
CLIMATE MITIGATION
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2011).
Renewable energy sources and climate change
mitigation
. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139151153
This IPCC Special Report assesses the potential role of renewable energy in mitigating climate change
across bioenergy, solar, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, and wind technologies. It also considers
energy-system integration, sustainable development, mitigation costs, and policy implementation.
Because the report synthesizes a large international scientific literature through the IPCC assessment
process, it provides a strong foundation for research on the connection between renewable energy and
climate change. Its broad scope makes it useful for explaining both the emissions-mitigation potential
of renewables and the technical or policy conditions needed for deployment. A researcher can use it to
establish the central framework before moving to narrower empirical studies.
2
LIFE-CYCLE EMISSIONS
Amponsah, N. Y., Troldborg, M., Kington, B., Aalders, I., & Hough, R. L. (2014). Greenhouse gas emissions
from renewable energy sources: A review of lifecycle considerations.
Renewable and Sustainable
Energy Reviews, 39
, 461–475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.087
This review examines life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions from renewable electricity and heat
technologies, covering wind, hydropower, marine energy, geothermal, photovoltaic, solar thermal,
biomass, waste, and heat pumps. Its importance for this topic is that it evaluates renewable
technologies across their full life cycles rather than assuming that all renewable energy has zero
associated emissions. The authors reviewed 79 life-cycle assessment studies and identify substantial
variation among technologies and system boundaries. This source is useful when a paper needs to
discuss the climate benefits of renewable energy with appropriate attention to manufacturing,
construction, fuel, and other life-cycle stages.
3
CLIMATE-RESILIENT SUPPLY
Gernaat, D. E. H. J., de Boer, H. S., Daioglou, V., Yalew, S. G., Müller, C., & van Vuuren, D. P. (2021).
Climate change impacts on renewable energy supply.
Nature Climate Change, 11
, 119–125.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00949-9
This study examines the reverse side of the relationship: climate change can also alter the resources on
which renewable energy systems depend. The authors use climate and integrated-assessment models to
estimate future effects on eight technologies, including photovoltaic systems, wind, bioenergy, and
hydropower. They find that impacts differ by technology and region, with uncertainty particularly
important for wind and hydropower. The article is directly relevant because it shows that expanding
renewable energy is part of climate mitigation while renewable supply itself may need to adapt to a
changing climate. It is useful for a balanced research paper that considers both mitigation benefits and
system vulnerability.
