The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), has released its energy transition outlook, detailing priority actions to be taken until 2030 to keep the hopes of 1.5°C alive.
IRENA is an intergovernmental organization aiming to promote renewable energy that believes that the energy transition holds the key to tackling global energy and climate crisis.
The outlook, which was released on Tuesday at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, calls on governments to fast-track energy transition for more energy security, resilience, and affordable energy for all.
It sets out priority areas and actions based on available technologies that must be realized by 2030 to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century. It also takes stock of progress across all energy uses to date, clearly showing the inadequate pace and scale of the renewables-based transition.
The IRENA outlook comes on the heels of critical developments in the Ukrainian crisis, which have pushed the energy market into the limelight, bringing new levels of concern over the security of supply in Europe and wider due to massive amounts of fossil fuels being supplied by Russia.
The European Union (EU) is said to be trying hard to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, reduce its overall dependence on gas, and accelerate the energy transition. As part of efforts to cut its Russian energy ties, the EU has also recently agreed with the U.S. for additional LNG supplies for 2022.
Meanwhile the U.S. has banned Russian oil, coal, and LNG imports, believing that the way to avoid high gas prices is to speed up – not slow down – the transition to a clean energy future.
In the outlook, IRENA said that high fossil fuel prices, energy security concerns, and the urgency of climate change underscore the pressing need to move faster to a clean energy system.
Director-General of IRENA, Francesco La Camera, said “The energy transition is far from being on track and anything short of radical action in the coming years will diminish, even eliminate chances to meet our climate goals.”
He pointed out that many answers to challenges of energy security, economic recovery and the affordability of energy bills lie in the accelerated transition, adding that investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure will only lock in uneconomic practices, perpetuate existing risks, and increase the threats of climate change.
“It is high time to act”, La Camera added.
The outlook sees investment needs of $.7 trillion per year until 2030 including the imperative to redirect $0.7 trillion annually away from fossil fuels to avoid stranded assets. But investing in the transition would bring concrete socioeconomic and welfare benefits, adding 85 million jobs worldwide in renewables and other transition-related technologies between today and 2030.
These job gains would largely surpass the losses of 12 million jobs in fossil fuel industries. Overall, more countries would experience greater benefits on the energy transition path than under business as usual, according to IRENA’s outlook.
For this to happen, according to the outlook, renewables would have to scale up massively across all sectors from 14% of total energy today to around 40% in 2030.
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