Coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has issued ‘From Taking Stock to Taking Action’ report that concludes the goal to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 and cut fossil fuel use is within reach, but will require a huge push to unlock bottlenecks such as permitting and grid connections.
The IEA’s new report, From Taking Stock to Taking Action: How to implement the COP28 energy goals, analyses the outcomes of the COP28 climate conference held in December 2023, where 200 countries agreed on ambitious global energy transition goals. These goals include achieving net zero emissions in the energy sector by 2050, transitioning away from fossil fuels, tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030, doubling energy efficiency improvement rates, and accelerating the deployment of other low-emissions technologies.
The report was released during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which coincides with Climate Week NYC.
The report, “shows tripling renewables and doubling energy efficiency are feasible with the right enabling conditions… though it stresses that this will hinge on additional international efforts to set the right enabling conditions, as well as on countries using the UAE Consensus as the compass for their next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.”
“The goal of tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030 is within reach thanks to favourable economics, ample manufacturing potential and strong policies. But greater capacity does not automatically mean that more renewable electricity will clean up the world’s power systems, lower costs for consumers and slash fossil fuel use. To unlock the full benefits of the tripling goal, countries need to make a concerted push to build and modernise 25 million kilometres of electricity grids by 2030, according to the report. The world would also need 1 500 gigawatts (GW) of energy storage capacity by 2030, of which 1 200 GW needs to come from battery storage, a 15-fold increase on today’s level.”
However, the goal of doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvements globally is falling short. The report notes that, “… doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvements globally could provide larger emissions reductions by 2030 than anything else, but it looks far out of reach under today’s policy settings. As a result, energy costs for consumers are set to be 8% higher in 2030 under today’s policies than they would be with full implementation of the goal of doubling efficiency, and annual emissions 6.5 gigatonnes (Gt) higher.”
With regard to energy efficiency, different countries will have different starting points and priorities, but in broad terms:
• In advanced economies, electrification is the key lever to improve efficiency
• In emerging markets, strengthening and enforcing efficiency standards for new buildings, factories and appliances is key
• In countries without full access to clean cooking, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, achieving full access to clean cooking delivers the largest energy savings.
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