WindEurope and the Global Wind Energy Council together with the global wind community will celebrate Global Wind Day tomorrow.
They said the aim of the day is to discover wind energy, its power and the possibilities it holds to reshape our energy systems, decarbonise our economies and boost jobs and growth.
A total of 591GW of wind capacity is installed globally across 91 countries, WindEurope and GWEC said.
GWEC chief executive Ben Backwell said: “Global energy demand is growing, and we have seen a steady growth in wind power in mature and emerging markets to take on a more significant role in fulfilling this demand.
“It is now a clear choice for companies to invest more and more in wind energy, and we are tangibly seeing this shift happen with investment in renewable energy more than doubling investments in fossil fuels in the power sector last year.
“As we see more investment in wind power, we will also see a decrease in carbon emissions, the creation of local jobs, an increase in access to electricity worldwide, greater energy security as the need for fuel imports reduces, and local economic development.
“Wind power is therefore key to meet both the world’s development and climate goals as we work towards achieving SDG7 and beyond.”
WindEurope chief executive Giles Dickson said: “Climate change is at the top of the political agenda in a way we’ve not seen before.
“Citizens are urging their governments to address one of the most pressing challenges of our time. “
Governments can deliver by unlocking investments in wind, the most cost effective climate mitigation technology.
“From 2011-2016 wind helped the EU avoid over 819 million tons of CO². And reduce Europe’s fossil-fuel import dependency and improve our air quality.
“But wind energy also provides jobs and investment. 300,000 people work in wind energy in Europe today and local communities are benefitting too from investment and local tax revenues.
“Wind is currently 14% of Europe’s electricity. It could be the cornerstone of Europe’s energy system providing half of all of Europe’s electricity by 2050 according to the European Commission”.
Law firm TLT partner Nick Shenken said: “Global Wind Day highlights the core role wind energy plays, and will continue to play, in our energy systems as we look to tackle climate change and transition the global energy system to a carbon-neutral model.”