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countries like the US. For example, the American National Flood Insurance Program has a US$25 billion debt to the US Treasury, with the likelihood of further debt increase due to the impacts of Hurricane Harvey in September 20175. All of these events signal that the climate is changing faster than the politics and the window for any meaningful action is becoming smaller. “BY 2030, WIND POWER COULD REACH 2,110 GW, AND SUPPLY UP TO 20 PER CENT OF GLOBAL ELECTRICITY ”To add insult to injury, after a hard-fought battle for the Paris Agreement in December of 2015, this year the new US Administration announced its intention to withdraw from the Agreement. PATH OF ACTION Most of the business community that was gathered in Paris in the margins of the climate summit in 2015 was and is clear on the direction of travel. The question is whether we can make the change fast enough to save the climate. It is clear that we have the technology to do so; all that is missing are the proper frameworks to shift an even greater magnitude of private investment in the right direction. This includes stopping subsidies promoting fossil fuel consumption and production with hundreds or thousands of billions of dollars every year, and to recognise that we need to decarbonise the global economy completely. One clear implication of the Paris Agreement is that any credible scenario to stay below 2°C requires an emissions-free power sector by 2050 at the latest.WIND POWER: COST-COMPETITIVE, CLEAN AND A GLOBAL SOLUTION More than 54 GW of clean renewable wind power was installed across the global market in 2016, which now comprises more than 90 countries, including 9 with more than 10,000 MW installed, and 29 which have now passed the 1,000 MW mark. Cumulative capacity grew by 12.6 per cent to reach a total of 486.8 GW.Wind power is now successfully competing with heavily subsidised incumbents across the globe, building new industries, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and leading the way towards a clean energy future. We are well into a period of disruptive change, moving away from power systems designed around a few large, often fossil fuel driven power plants, towards markets increasingly dominated by a range of widely distributed renewable energy sources.Wind power penetration levels continue to increase, led by Denmark pushing 40 per cent, followed by Uruguay, Portugal and Ireland with well over 20 per cent, Spain and Cyprus around 20 per cent, Germany at 16 per cent; and the big markets of China, the US and Canada get 4, 5.5, and 6 per cent of their power from wind, respectively. GWEC’s rolling five year forecast SUSTAINABLE ENERGY 047