Clean electricity must double in 8 yrs to limit temperature rise: WMO

To put the world on a net zero trajectory by 2050, renewable energy investments must triple by then, the report said.

With the energy sector responsible for around three-fourths of global greenhouse gas emissions, WMO chief Petteri Taalas said switching to cleaner energy generation and improving energy efficiency  is ‘vital if we are to thrive in the 21st century’.

“Net zero by 2050 is the aim. But we will only get there if we double the supply of low-emissions electricity within the next eight years,” he said in an official press release.

“Time is not on our side, and our climate is changing before our eyes”, said the WMO chief calling for “a complete transformation of the global energy system,” he said.

Despite several risks, just 40 per cent of climate action plans submitted by governments to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) prioritise adaptation in the energy sector, and investment is correspondingly low, WMO said.

A transition to renewable energy will help alleviate the growing stress on water supply, because the amount of water used to generate electricity by solar and wind is much lower than for more traditional power plants, either fossil-fuel or nuclear-based.

In 2020, 87 per cent of global electricity generated from thermal, nuclear and hydroelectric systems, depended directly on water availability.

Meanwhile, located in high water stress areas, are 33 per cent of the thermal power plants reliant upon freshwater for cooling, around 11 per cent of hydroelectric operations; and approximately 26 per cent of hydropower dams.

And nuclear power plants, which depend on water for cooling, are also often situated in low-lying coastal areas – leaving them vulnerable to rising sea levels and weather-related flooding.

However, international public finance flows to developing countries in support of clean energy, has decreased. It fell in 2019, for the second year in a row, to $10.9 billion—23 per cent lower than the $14.2 billion provided in 2018—and less than half of the peak of $24.7 billion in 2017.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)