Achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is still possible but needs “stronger international cooperation” and increased momentum in many areas, the International Climate Agency said. Energy (AIE).
In the latest update to the IEA’s Net Zero Roadmap report, the agency said meeting climate targets is possible due to record growth in key clean energy technologies. The 2023 update “incorporates the significant changes in the energy landscape of the past two years, including the post-pandemic economic recovery and extraordinary growth in some clean energy technologies, but also increased investment in fuels fossils and stubbornly high emissions”, as reported. a statement accompanying the report.
The report said the adoption of clean energy technologies “increased at an unprecedented rate over the past two years,” as solar PV capacity additions increased by nearly 50 percent, electric car sales increased by 240 percent and stationary battery installations soared by 200 percent from 2020. The IEA estimates that global solar PV and electric vehicle battery manufacturing capacities would be sufficient to meet projected demand in 2030 if the announced projects continue. The report noted that progress reflects the reduction in costs of key clean energy technologies, which fell by nearly 80 percent on a deployment-weighted average basis between 2010 and 2022.
Hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels and carbon capture, utilization and storage “have an important role to play in reducing emissions in heavy industry and long-distance transport”, although they play a smaller role in the updated report, due to “less technological and market development progress than expected in 2021 and stronger electrification prospects,” the report says.
In the updated net-zero route, global renewable energy capacity triples by 2030, while the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements doubles, sales of electric vehicles and heat pumps rise sharply, and emissions of methane from the energy sector fall by 75 percent. “These strategies, which rely on proven and often cost-effective technologies to reduce emissions, together deliver more than 80 percent of the reductions needed by the end of the decade,” the IEA said.
Staying on track to the net zero goal means that “almost all countries need to move forward on their net zero dates,” the IEA said. “It also depends on mobilizing a significant increase in investment, particularly in emerging and developing economies,” the agency said, adding that in the updated target scenario, global clean energy spending rises from 1, $8 trillion in 2023 to $4.5 trillion annually in the early 2030s. .
“Keep alive the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 [degrees Celsius] it requires the world to come together quickly,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in the statement. “The good news is that we know what to do and how to do it. Our Net Zero 2023 Roadmap, based on the latest data and analysis, shows a way forward. But we also have a very clear message: strong international cooperation is crucial for success. Governments must separate climate from geopolitics, given the scale of the challenge before us.”
“The road to 1.5 [degrees Celsius] has been reduced in the last two years, but clean energy technologies are keeping it open. Building international momentum behind key global targets such as tripling renewable capacity and doubling energy efficiency by 2030, which together would lead to a sharper decline in demand for fossil fuels this decade, the summit on climate at COP28 in Dubai is a vital opportunity to commit to stronger ambition. and implementation in the remaining years of this critical decade”. Birol concluded.
In May 2021, the IEA published its landmark report Net Zero Emissions to 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector. The report sets out a narrow but feasible path for the global energy sector to contribute to the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
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