Rethinking the green recovery through renewable energy expansion

International audienceThe world today finds itself in the worst economic and environmental crises in generations. Hence, we need policies that can stimulate recovery and at the same time reach the sustainability of the global economy. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP and ILO, 2008; UNEP 2009a; 2009b; 2011) and many economists (i.e. Barbier, 2009a; 2009b; 2009c; Edenhofer and Stern, 2009; Robins et al., 2009) advocate the need for a "Green Recovery". The concept of "Green Recovery" means that the current economic crisis should be grasped by governments as an opportunity to reduce carbon dependency and put economies on a path of Green Growth. This needs the use of fiscal stimulus packages to provide green infrastructures necessary to reach a significant "greening" of the global economy. Since renewable energy is a key to a future without dangerous climate change, many papers and international reports advocate that the renewable energy sector is an obvious choice in the path of Green Recovery and Green Growth. (UNEP SEFI, 2009; 2010; 2011). The main aim of this paper is to review a selection of responses to the double crisis by international institutions and to focus on the achievements made in the renewable energy sector since the use of fiscal stimulus packages