Leading industries, investors and climate advocates set out achievable pathways to limit global warming to well below 2˚C while stimulating economic development and social progress.
Governments, investors and businesses must seize the opportunity to halve global carbon emissions by 2040 while ensuring economic development and energy access for all, but they must act now to accelerate clean electrification, decarbonization beyond power and energy productivity improvement, says the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC).
The ETC today launched its "Better energy, Greater prosperity" report which argues that it is technically and economically feasible to grow economies and provide affordable, reliable, clean energy for all while meeting the Paris objective of limiting global warming to well below 2°C.
Key conclusions of the report include:
- Falling costs of renewables and batteries make cost-effective, clean electricity unstoppable and essential to the transition to a low-carbon, energy-abundant world.
- There is still untapped potential to improve energy productivity – i.e. the energy-intensity of GDP. Growth of 3% per annum could be achieved with the right policies effectively implemented.
- Rapid progress is now required on other technologies, including bioenergy, hydrogen and all forms of carbon capture and sequestration, to drive complete decarbonization. But even with large scale CCS deployment, which is currently not on track, fossil fuels use must fall 30% by 2040, with rapid decline of unabated coal.