Global efforts to reduce carbon emissions and curb rising temperatures are threatened by a lack of collaboration between nations in sharing and developing new technology, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report yesterday.
Major economies around the world such as the US and European nations are seeking to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 to try to limit a rise in global temperatures well below 2°C, requiring huge changes in energy production, transportation and food production.
“Through international collaboration, we can make the transition quicker, cheaper and easier for everyone,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in a statement with the first Breakthrough Agenda report, released yesterday with the International Renewable Energy Agency and the UN Climate Change High Level Champions.
“Without this collaboration, the transition to net-zero emissions will be much more challenging and could be delayed by decades,” Birol said.
The report said collaboration needed to ramp up and made 25 recommendations, including increasing cross-border power super grids to support cross-nation trading in low-carbon power.
It said nations should agree on a common date by which all new vehicles should be zero-emission, such as electric vehicles, suggesting 2035 for cars and vans, and 2040 for heavy-duty vehicles.
“This will send a clear signal to industry and unlock larger economies of scale and faster cost reductions, making the transition more affordable for all countries,” the report said.
Nations should also work to increase low-carbon steel production to more than 100 million tonnes by 2030 from less than 1 million tonnes today, it said.
The report was requested by world leaders at last year’s COP climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, to help align actions and scale up investment in technology in five major sectors — power, road transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture — that account for about 60 percent of emissions.
In related news, the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) yesterday said that nearly two-thirds of its members had set short-term goals to cut portfolio emissions in line with capping global warming at 1.5°C as “the clock is ticking” on climate change.
The NZAOA, which is composed of 74 investors such as pension schemes and insurance companies with a combined US$10.6 trillion of assets, is helping its members decarbonize their portfolios.
While all have committed to do so by 2050, the group is increasingly asking them to implement shorter-term objectives.
“We have the requirement that every new joiner must within a year set these interim targets,” NZAOA chair Gunther Thallinger said.
In its second annual progress report, the NZAOA said that 41 members had set goals to cut portfolio emissions by at least 22 percent by 2025 or 49 percent by 2030, commitments which cover US$3.3 trillion of assets.
“Much still remains to be done,” the group wrote as it aims to grow to 200 members, or to US$25 trillion of assets by 2025.
“While US$7.1 trillion in AUM [assets under management] is now encompassed by the Alliance’s pledge, this amount must still grow to create a significant breakthrough,” it said.
“The question whether they join us or not is very simple: ‘Can they make the commitment?’” Thallinger said, adding that an “accountability mechanism” compels firms to make progress to protect their reputation.
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