Solving climate crisis will require 'total transformation' of global energy use, IEA report says

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

To solve the climate change crisis, human beings must stop using gasoline-powered cars within 14 years, abandon the pursuit of new coal mines, end oil exploration and set about "a total transformation of the energy systems that underpin our economies," according to a bracing new report by the International Energy Agency.

Titled "Net Zero by 2050," the report, released Tuesday, examines the pledges made by world governments to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and concludes that the goal of keeping global temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels will prove "extremely challenging."

"The number of countries that have pledged to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century or soon after continues to grow, but so do global greenhouse gas emissions," the report states. "This gap between rhetoric and action needs to close if we have a fighting chance of reaching net zero by 2050 and limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 °C."

In its report, the IEA lays out 400 steps that, if taken immediately, would meet the goal of cutting current greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and down to nearly zero in 2050. In the event that such a massive, united global undertaking were successful, global temperatures could be kept below a level that would cause mass extinction, devastating sea level rise, unprecedented death from worsening heat waves, and other consequences that the Environmental Protection Agency has found are already occurring.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/solving-climate-crisis-will-require-total-transformation-of-global-energy-use-iae-report-says-191241783.html

[Random Boomer]

1. Close, but still needs some editing to align with reality

In its report, the IEA lays out 400 steps that, if taken immediately, would meet the goal of cutting current greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and down to nearly zero in 2050. In the event that such a massive, united global undertaking were successful, we're hoping like hell that global temperatures could be kept below a level that would cause mass extinction, devastating sea level rise, unprecedented death from worsening heat waves, and other consequences that the Environmental Protection Agency has found are already occurring and that are happening far faster than anyone predicted.

400 steps... taken immediately... let's see how that works out for us...

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. includes preventing 2.5 million premature deaths each year from indoor air pollution

So there's that, too:

Providing electricity to around 785 million people who have no access to it and clean cooking solutions to 2.6 billion people who lack them is an integral part of the Roadmap’s net zero pathway. This costs around $40 billion a year, equal to around 1% of average annual energy sector investment. It also brings major health benefits through reductions in indoor air pollution, cutting the number of premature deaths by 2.5 million a year.

Total annual energy investment surges to USD 5 trillion by 2030 in the net zero pathway, adding an extra 0.4 percentage points a year to global GDP growth, based on a joint analysis with the International Monetary Fund. The jump in private and government spending creates millions of jobs in clean energy, including energy efficiency, as well as in the engineering, manufacturing and construction industries. All of this puts global GDP 4% higher in 2030 than it would reach based on current trends.

By 2050, the energy world looks completely different. Global energy demand is around 8% smaller than today, but it serves an economy more than twice as big and a population with 2 billion more people. Almost 90% of electricity generation comes from renewable sources, with wind and solar PV together accounting for almost 70%. Most of the remainder comes from nuclear power. Solar is the world’s single largest source of total energy supply. Fossil fuels fall from almost four-fifths of total energy supply today to slightly over one-fifth. Fossil fuels that remain are used in goods where the carbon is embodied in the product such as plastics, in facilities fitted with carbon capture, and in sectors where low-emissions technology options are scarce.

https://www.iea.org/news/pathway-to-critical-and-formidable-goal-of-net-zero-emissions-by-2050-is-narrow-but-brings-huge-benefits-according-to-iea-special-report