Announced at COP28, a total of 123 countries committed to tripling renewable power capacity and doubling energy efficiency by 2030. China didn’t. Why? Quoting experts, Lin Zi at China Dialogue explains that the bundling together of the two targets is the problem. Tripling renewables is very achievable; in fact China may well exceed that target. But reducing energy intensity is not easy, even though China has a good record: among the G20 members, … [Read more...]
Another good year for Renewables. But can we triple Wind and Solar by 2030?
COP28 saw a calling for a tripling of renewable capacities by 2030, off the back of positive signs. In 2022, 80% of incremental power demand and 12% of electricity generated worldwide came from solar and wind. And the IEA believes solar generation can grow at 25% to 2030. But, as Ramnath Iyer at IEEFA explains, specific challenges must be met to ramp up successfully. The non-financial barriers include a lack of policy clarity, permitting, and … [Read more...]
Five major outcomes from COP28 (and next year’s is in Azerbaijan, another oil and gas producer)
Mark Maslin, Priti Parikh and Simon Chin-Yee at UCL lay out the five major outcomes from the latest COP28 climate summit in the UAE, a major oil and gas producer. Though in the run up there was great hope for a new climate agreement on the phasing out of all fossil fuels, that never happened. Phase out turned into a “transition away from.” The authors note that the first ever mention of fossil fuels in an international climate agreement was only … [Read more...]
Fossil producer UAE to host COP28: what are Gulf states doing to decarbonise?
COP28 in November is being hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a major oil and gas producer. The COP President will be Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of ADNOC, one of the world’s biggest oil companies. It’s attracted heavy criticism from many quarters. Robin Mills at the Center on Global Energy Policy reviews the contradictions inherent in a leading fossil producing nation hosting the world’s most important decarbonisation forum. The Gulf states … [Read more...]
Financing Renewable Hydrogen globally: ramp up to 2030 only needs $150bn/year
Dolf Gielen, Priyank Lathwal and Silvia Carolina Lopez Rocha at the World Bank present a thorough review of the pathway to financing global clean renewable hydrogen over the coming decades. The wind and solar that powers production will continue to get cheaper, and so will electrolyser costs as they scale up. Nevertheless, the total financing will still be considerable. World Bank analysis shows around $30tn between now and 2050 will be needed … [Read more...]