The world may be close to reaching the peak of carbon emissions from the global electricity sector because of a surge in wind and solar power.
In fact, the growth of renewables is so rapid that it is close to the incredibly fast rate required if the world is to hit the tripling of capacity by 2030.
Experts believe the rapid growth is necessary to reach the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Report Notes Only A Slight Increase In Emissions
Ember compared electricity data from January to June 2023 to the same period last year, across 78 countries representing 92% of the world’s electricity demand.
The climate thinktank found there had been only a slight increase in emissions in the first six months of the year, compared with the same period last year.
Nonetheless, it also found wind and solar power had climbed to a combined total of 14.3% of the world’s electricity, up from 12.8% a year before.
Findings Suggest World Is On The Right Track.
According to modelling by the International Energy Agency (IEA), emissions from generating electricity must fall to net zero by 2045 globally as part of the 1.5°C pathway.
To achieve that, global renewable capacity would have to triple by 2030, implying solar power would have to grow by 26% and wind power by 16% every year.
Last year’s year-on-year growth was 25% for solar and 14% for wind, suggesting the world is on the right track. But countries would need to deploy bigger and faster to keep up these rates.
Madrid Climate Summit Share Key Objectives For COP28
Co-hosted by the IEA and the Spanish government, the International Climate and Energy Summit on Monday sought to strengthen ambition and implementation ahead of the COP28 Summit.
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High-level policymakers convened to discuss ways to facilitate a just energy transition as well as setting global targets for renewables and energy efficiency and achieving them.
The Summit put forward a few key objectives for COP28, including ensuring the orderly decline of the use of fossil fuels and tripling renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade.
