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The International Energy Agency (IEA) is leading calls for countries gathering at the main United Nations climate forum starting next month to adopt a goal to triple the global renewable electricity capacity by 2030.
The target is among several objectives set by a forum on Monday in Madrid attended by COP28 president-designate Sultan Al Jaber, who is also chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. COP28, or the 28th gathering of the Conference of the Parties (the decision-making body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change), has been scheduled for November 30 to December 12 in the United Arab Emirates.
“Science has issued ever stronger warnings: we are running out of time”, began a statement from the Madrid summit’s co-chairs, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol and Spain Vice-President Teresa Ribera. The statement cited data from the World Meteorological Organization that the globe experienced the hottest-ever July and August this year. “It is very likely that 2023 will be the hottest year ever recorded”, it added.
“This year has been marked by a devastating series of extreme weather events; no part of the world has been spared. We must move faster to tackle global warming if we want to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement”.
The agreement adopted at COP21 aims to prevent the global average temperature from going two degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels and rein in the rise further to 1.5C (34.7F). Among the agenda for COP28 is the launch of the so-called Global Stocktake to assess the world’s progress against the goals of the 2015 Paris pact.
The statement for the Madrid meeting said participants “expressed strong appreciation” for an IEA report last month claiming demand for coal, oil and natural gas could peak this decade due to the speed of the rollout of clean energy. That report published September 12 went on to state, “This is encouraging, but not nearly enough for the 1.5 C goal”.
The IEA’s claim that fossil fuel demand would peak by 2030 sparked a row with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), in which one of the top producers is COP28 host the UAE. OPEC issued a counterstatement September 14 saying such narratives “would lead to energy chaos on a potentially unprecedented scale, with dire consequences for economies and billions of people across the world”.
However the statement for the Madrid conference claimed consensus for three key actions that must be achieved by 2030 toward the 1.5C target: tripling renewable power capacity, doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvement and cutting methane emissions from fossil fuel operations by 75 percent. Participants at the gathering in Spain included UAE representative Al Jaber and ministers and senior officials from 35 countries across five continents, as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“These actions to scale up clean energy and improve energy efficiency are critical to driving down fossil fuel demand this decade while ensuring an orderly transition, minimizing volatility in energy prices and providing a clear planning horizon to industry”, the statement said. “These points provide a key benchmark for the success of COP-28”.
For the renewable power target, the statement called for “the implementation of policies to create strong project pipelines, sound and responsive regulatory environments, and programs – including through international support – to lower the cost of capital for renewables projects in developing economies”.
“In line with this objective, particular attention needs to be paid to the appropriate development of electricity grids to ensure the adequate integration of renewables, as well as to the promotion of worker training and the development of new skills”, it added.
An earlier IEA report projected the installed capacity for renewables-based electricity generation would rise to 4,500 gigawatts (GW) next year, equivalent to the combined power output of the world’s top two economies, the USA and China. “Global renewable capacity additions are set to soar by 107 gigawatts, the largest absolute increase ever, to more than 440 GW in 2023”, the June 21 report said.
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