IEA emphasises urgent actions needed to keep 1.5°C goal in reach

• Triple global renewable power capacity.
• Double the rate of energy efficiency improvements.
• Commitments by the fossil fuel industry, and oil and gas companies in particular, to align activities with the Paris Agreement, starting by cutting methane emissions from operations by 75%.
• Establish large-scale financing mechanisms to triple clean energy investment in emerging and developing economies.
• Commit to measures that ensure an orderly decline in the use of fossil fuels, including an end to new approvals of unabated coal-fired power plants.

The IEA's analysts have been following developments at COP28 closely. In a new assessment, they noted that pledges have been made in three key areas – by many countries on renewables and energy efficiency, and by a significant number of companies on methane and flaring. While these are positive steps forward in tackling the energy sector’s greenhouse gas emissions – and in line with three of the five pillars above – even full delivery on the pledges by all the signatories to date would not be nearly enough to move the world onto a path to reaching international climate targets, in particular the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

As of 8 December 2023, around 130 countries had signed up to the pledge to triple global renewable power capacity by 2030 and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements every year to 2030. Those countries together account for 40% of global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from fossil fuel combustion, 37% of total global energy demand and 56% of global GDP.

In addition to the potential impact of those pledges, the IEA has assessed what the effect would be of the full implementation of the methane pledge of the oil and gas decarbonisation charter, which is to zero-out methane emissions and eliminate routine flaring by 2030. The 50 companies that have signed up to it account for about 40% of global oil production and 35% of combined oil and gas production.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/the-environment/12122023/iea-emphasises-urgent-actions-needed-to-keep-15-c-goal-in-reach/