|
|
|
Energy leaders, industry's blueprint for zero-carbon economy by 2050
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
|
|
SME Times News Bureau | 16 Sep, 2020
From lower emission targets the world must progress directly to zero
greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century with no permanent reliance on
negative emissions to balance continued energy and industrial emissions,
a new report from the Energy Transmission Commission said on Wednesday.
According
to the report titled "Making Mission Possible -- Delivering A Net-Zero
Economy", the zero emission goal should mean actual zero levels to be
achieved by 2050 and for this to happen all growth in electricity supply
should now come from zero-carbon sources with no requirement to build
any new coal-fired power capacity to support economic growth and rising
living standards.
The Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) is a
global coalition of leaders from across the energy landscape committed
to achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century, in line with the Paris
climate objective of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees
celsius.
It has in its fold leaders from global energy producers,
energy-intensive industries, financial institutions and environmental
advocates - including ArcelorMittal, Bank of America, BP, Development
Research Centre of the State Council of China, EBRD, HSBC, Iberdrola,
Arsted, Shell, Sinopec Capital, Tata Group, Volvo and the World
Resources Institute among others.
The ETC report demonstrates
that it is technically and economically possible to have a carbon-free
economy by around mid-century at a total cost of less than 0.5% of
global GDP by taking three overarching steps. These include improving
energy efficiency and thus
using less energy while improving
living standards in developing economies, scaling up clean energy
provision by building massive generation capacities of cheap clean power
at a faster pace.
The third step suggested is expanding the use
of clean energy across all sectors of the economy by electrifying many
applications and deploying new technologies and processes using
hydrogen, sustainable biomass or carbon capture in sectors that cannot
be electrified.
With regard to India, the report says that the
country has adequate renewable energy resources to support a zero-carbon
power system delivering 6,000 TWh or more in 2050 at close to no cost
to electricity consumers, living standards or economic growth, thanks to
the increasing competitiveness of India's solar and wind energy.
Detailed
analysis by ETC India shows that wind and solar generation could
increase to 32% of India's power generation by 2030 with total low/zero
carbon increasing to 47% of the total. Moreover, the total system cost,
allowing for necessary storage and flexibility resources, will be no
higher than if new coal capacity were installed instead.
The
signatories to the ETC report argue that the Covid-19 pandemic has
demonstrated the non-preparedness of the global economy to systemic
risks and that the massive public spending now being dedicated to
stimulating economic recovery constitutes a unique opportunity to invest
in a more resilient economy.
ETC estimates that additional
investments required to achieve those goals will be in the order of US$1
trillion to US$2 trillion per year, equivalent to 1% to 1.5% of global
GDP. This represents only a small increase of global investments which
currently amount to about a quarter of global GDP, and would contribute
to global economic growth.
The report outlines three critical
priorities for the 2020s and practical actions that nations and
non-state parties can commit to in the run up to the COP26 United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in November 2021 to put
mid-century objectives within reach.
First priority, the report
says, is to speed up the deployment of proven zero-carbon solutions.
Next is create the right policy and investment environment - by removing
fossil fuel subsidies, increasing carbon prices. The third priority is
to bring the next wave of zero-carbon technologies for harder-to-abate
sectors to market - so they can be deployed in the 2030s and 2040s, by
focusing public and private R&D on - critical technologies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
|
|
Daily Poll |
|
|
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations |
|
|
|
|
|
Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|