Businesses and policymakers have been urged to work together to halve global emissions by 2040 and push on to ambitious targets for the rest of the 21st century.
The ‘Better energy, greater prosperity’ report from the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC), argues that it is technically and economically feasible to grow economies, provide affordable, reliable clean energy and achieve the Paris Agreement objective of limiting global warming to well below 2C.
Annual carbon emissions can be reduced from 36Gt today to 20Gt by 2040, the ETC claims, if the business community works with governments and investors to accelerate clean electrification, decarbonise power generation and optimise remaining fossil fuel use.
“We are ambitious but realistic,” ETC chair Adair Turner said. “Despite the scale of the challenges facing us, we firmly believe the required transition is technically and economically achievable if immediate action is taken.”
The report describes the need to decarbonise ‘hard-to-electrify’ sectors such as aviation, shipping and heavy industries. The ETC notes frustrating progress made by technologies required to realise that transition, such as bioenergy, waste heat and carbon capture and storage (CCS). Businesses need to make significant R&D and deployment investments to ensure these technologies become cost-effective, the report claims.
Major players within the business community are starting to take up the mantle. The world’s largest retailer, Walmart, for instance, last week launched a programme to slash one billion tonnes of emissions from its supply chain by 2030. If achieved, this would represent one-sixteenth of the reductions necessary to bring global emissions down to 20Gt by 2040, as set out in the ETC report. (edie.com)
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