Clean energy set to miss net-zero goals

Review says sector progress must be spread wider to achieve 2050 targets

A report published by the International Energy Agency has painted an encouraging picture of the adoption of clean energy across the world, but warned that it needs to be rolled out across more sectors and regions to meet net-zero targets for 2050.

The latest annual Tracking Clean Energy Progress online resource from the IEA said electric vehicle sales had risen nearly tenfold in the course of just five years, and renewable energy capacity had also grown significantly, but the spread is uneven, with nearly 95 percent of global electric car sales in 2022 happening in China, the United States and Europe alone.

The speed of uptake of technology such as electric vehicles and solar photovoltaic power generation showed what could be done, the report noted, but it needed to be replicated across other sectors for goals to remain within reach.

"Stronger international cooperation is needed to spread progress on electric cars and other key technologies to all regions, particularly emerging and developing economies," the report noted.

"Rapid innovation is still needed to bring to market clean technologies for parts of the energy system where emissions are harder to tackle, such as heavy industry and long-distance transport. Positive steps on innovation have been made in the past few years, but a further acceleration is needed to soon bring to market more low-emissions technologies for these areas," it said.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the report highlighted "very promising developments" but also the need to expand their deployment.

"The clean energy economy is rapidly taking shape, but even faster progress is needed in most areas to meet international energy and climate goals," he said, adding that the progress was "underlining both the need and the potential for greater action globally. The extraordinary growth of key technologies like solar and electric cars shows what is possible."

Solar energy was identified as an area of positivity, with government support for projects in China, the US and India picked out for particular praise. "If all announced projects are realized, global manufacturing capacity for solar PV will more than double in the next five years, outpacing 2030 demand in the IEA's Net Zero by 2050 Scenario," the report observed.

However, despite progress being acknowledged in all of the more than 50 components of the energy system that the study covered, it was noted that the majority of them are not currently up to speed to reach the 2050 net-zero target.

"Stronger policy support and greater investment are needed across a wide range of different technologies, in all regions of the world, to enable a broader and faster shift towards clean energy to keep net zero emissions by 2050 within reach," the report commented.