Climate change could jeopardise energy security if renewables not doubled by 2030, says UN body – EQ Mag Pro

World Meteorological Organization report says heatwaves, droughts & rising sea levels are putting existing energy generation under stress.

New Delhi: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a United Nations agency, has released a new report that says unless clean or renewable sources of energy are doubled by 2030, securing energy across the world could be jeopardised by the worsening effects of climate change.

Released Tuesday, the WMO State of Climate Services annual report further says that heatwaves, droughts, and rising sea levels “are already putting existing energy generation under stress”.

According to the report, 87 per cent of global electricity generated from hydroelectric, nuclear, and thermal sources in 2020 depended on the availability of water. Much of this supply — 33 per cent of thermal power plants, 15 per cent of nuclear plants, and 11 per cent of hydroelectric capacity — is located in water-stressed areas, it adds.

The WMO worked in collaboration with 26 different organisations, including the World Bank, the Adaptation Fund — a body set up under the Kyoto Protocol to help developing countries adapt to the harmful effects of climate change) — and the International Renewable Energy Agency (an intergovernmental organisation) to conclude that widespread investment in adapting the renewable energy sector to climate change is essential to the global transition away from polluting fossil fuels such as coal and oil.

Clean energy sources include wind, geothermal, solar, natural gas, hydropower and others.

As part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, 193 countries and the European Union have agreed to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to avoid climate catastrophe.

According to recent reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global surface temperatures have already risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius, and is projected to overshoot the 1.5-degree threshold by mid-century unless drastic cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases take place.

The energy sector accounts “for almost three-quarters of global emissions”, making it the basis of the WMO’s analysis, the report says.

According to the report, “current pledges made by countries fall well short of what is needed to meet the objectives set by the Paris Agreement… leaving a 70 per cent gap in the amount of emissions reductions needed by 2030”.

Achieving the Paris Agreement’s goal “requires 7.1 terrawatt (TW) of clean energy capacity to be installed by 2030”, but current renewable energy pledges with quantified targets come up to just 3.7 TW

A statement accompanying the report quotes Dr Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, as saying, “We urgently need to respond to the growing impact of climate change on energy systems if we are to maintain energy security while accelerating the transition to net-zero (emissions). This requires long-term planning and bold policy action to spur investment, which in turn needs to be underpinned by comprehensive and reliable weather and climate data.”.

Adapting renewable energy sector to climate change

Since renewable energy depends on the weather and climate, investment into improving those sectors can help. For example, early warning systems, solar radiation measurement, climate stress tests, and severe weather alerts can ensure effective electricity distribution.

But the report notes that financing these endeavours is not a priority, with “just 40 per cent of the world’s climate goals” aimed at making these systems more adaptable to changing climate.

While investments in the renewable energy sector need to triple by 2050 to put the world on a net-zero trajectory, according to the report, current investments have left developing and emerging economies “underrepresented when it comes to accessing clean energy finance”.

Further, only 2 per cent of clean energy investment in the past two decades was made in Africa — one of the regions facing the brunt of climate change.

Finance for clean energy usually flows to larger economies where investments can make profits. A majority of renewable energy investments were made in the East Asia and Pacific regions (including China and Japan), Western Europe, and North America, the report notes.

The report advises more investment in Africa, which it says could become a “major player” in the global renewable energy market.

“Africa is home to 60 per cent of the best solar resources globally, yet has only 1 per cent of installed photovoltaic capacity,” it says.

Source: PTI