Are we making progress towards a net zero future?
The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest report sets a roadmap for net zero emissions by 2050. From progress and positive signals, to bottlenecks and rising challenges we look at how researchers, media and NGOs have reacted to the report. “Governments need to separate climate from geopolitics, given the scale of the challenge at hand,” says IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.
The IEA, which is an autonomous intergovernmental organization that works to promote energy security, economic growth, and environmental sustainability among its member countries, first published its roadmap for the energy sector to net zero emissions by 2050 in May 2021. In this report the IEA set out a pathway for the global energy industry to support the Paris Agreement’s objective of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The roadmap is intended to help policymakers, regulators and other key bodies make science-based decisions to deliver a just energy transition aligned with the Paris Agreement. Since 2021, changes in geopolitics and improvements in new technologies mean that a new roadmap, published in September 2023 is leaving room for both new-found optimism and also continuing caution about what lies ahead.
The 2023 report explores a scenario that could save 12 trillion USD, cumulatively, in terms of energy system operating costs, by 2050. It would also ensure universal access to modern forms of energy by 2030. Promisingly, the technologies needed to deliver these gains and almost two-thirds of the emissions reductions needed through to 2050 already exist today.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol stated, “Keeping alive the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C requires the world to come together quickly. The good news is we know what we need to do — and how to do it. Our 2023 Net Zero Roadmap, based on the latest data and analysis, shows a path forward. But we also have a very clear message: Strong international cooperation is crucial to success. Governments need to separate climate from geopolitics, given the scale of the challenge at hand.”
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Climate Foresight is published by the CMCC Foundation , a research center that develops models and predictions to study the interaction between changes in the climate system and social, economic and environmental changes. Climate Foresight is an observatory on tomorrow, a digital magazine that collects ideas, interviews, articles, art performances, and multimedia to tell the stories of the future.
