IEA: Temperature increase can be limited to 1.5 degrees, but with more ambition

Paris, Sep 26 (EFE) - The world can reach the goal of "zero emissions" in the energy sector in 2050 and limit the global rise in temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius, but more political ambition and cooperation is needed, said the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The IEA published on Tuesday an update of its 2021 roadmap to reach "zero emissions" by mid-century and limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, in which it considers that the progress of the last two years shows that both goals are possible.

The document stresses that the "record growth" in solar power generation capacity and electric vehicle sales "are in line" - as are industrial plans for increased production - with the path to emissions neutrality by mid-century.

However, he insists that "more ambitious action is needed in this decade."

To this end, it focuses on a few strategies: a tripling of global renewable energy production capacity by 2030; a doubling of the annual rate of increase in energy efficiency improvements; a sharp increase in sales of electric vehicles and heat pump systems; and a 75% cut in methane emissions from the power sector.

These strategies, which are based on technologies that already exist and have already proven their cost-effectiveness in cutting emissions, would alone plunge more than 80% of the reductions needed by the end of this decade, says the IEA.

Global investments need to increase 2.5-fold from $1.8 trillion in 2023 to $4.5 trillion by the beginning of the next decade to keep pace with emissions reductions, the agency insists.

"The good news is that we know what we need to do and how to do it," IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in the report, insisting that "to succeed, strong international cooperation is crucial."

"Governments need to separate geopolitics from climate given the scale of the challenge we are facing," he said.

The report finds that under this scenario "there is no need" for new long-term projects for oil production, natural gas, coal mines or coal-fired power plants that do not capture their emissions.

Still, it acknowledges that investment will need to continue in some existing or already approved oil and gas projects to ensure adequate sequencing between the increase in renewables production and the decline of fossil fuels without creating supply problems or price stress.

The document warns that if the world fails to deploy clean energy quickly enough by 2030, nearly 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) will have to be removed from the atmosphere each year during the second half of this century to ensure that the temperature increase does not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Climate neutrality by 2050 and limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels are two of the main objectives of the Paris Agreements.