Clean energy technologies are not being deployed quickly enough, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned on the launch of its annual report today.
The report, Tracking Clean Energy Progress, is being presented at the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) summit in London.
“We have a responsibility and a golden opportunity to act,” says IEA deputy executive director ambassador Richard H. Jones. “Energy-related CO2 emissions are at historic highs; under current policies, we estimate that energy use and CO2 emissions would increase by a third by 2020, and almost double by 2050.”
If not action is taken, these increases are likely to send global temperatures at least 6°C higher, he warned.
But rapid leaps forward in technology are possible, says the report. The IEA cites the progress made in solar panels for homes and businesses, which have seen costs drop 75% in as little as three years in some places driving a 42% growth in the sector.
Onshore wind has also seen average annual growth of 27% over the past decade.
But most clean energy technologies, from carbon capture and storage to electric vehicles, are not on track to reduce CO2 emissions at the rate required, cautions the IEA. And enough is not being made of the ‘hidden fuel’ – energy efficiency, it adds.
Jones urged ministers meeting in London this week to take “aggressive policy action” to take full advantage of the benefits of clean energy technologies.
“It is my hope that they heed our warning of insufficient progress, and act to seize the security, economic and environmental benefits that a clean-energy transition can bring,” he added.
For further information:
www.iea.org/
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IEA calls for phase out of $0.5 trillion fossil fuel subsidies (7-Oct 2011)
Surging fossil fuel demand overshadows progress on clean energy, warns IEA (7-Apr 2011)
Article source: http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/5050/
