Earth Today | Clean energy a must – report
Published:Thursday | January 16, 2025 | 12:08 AM
AS CELEBRATIONS for another International Day for Clean Energy near, the observance’s ambitions have been validated by the findings from the 2024 Emissions Gap Report, which makes it clear that the world may be losing the battle against the climate crisis.
This is even as there are prevailing human development issues associated with the failure to significantly progress the shift to renewables, including access to power supply.
According to the report, titled ‘No more hot air … please!’, countries must demonstrate ambition and commitment to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which are the fuel that fire global warming and the associated impacts and threats.
“The increase in total GHG emissions of 1.3 per cent from 2022 levels is above the average rate in the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic (2010-2019), when GHG emissions growth averaged 0.8 per cent per year. The rise is in all sources of GHGs, except land use, land-use change and forestry CO2, and across all sectors,” the report said.
It means therefore, it said, that “unless global emissions in 2030 are brought below levels resulting from current policies and from the full implementation of the current NDCs (nationally determined contributions), it will become impossible to get to a pathway that limits global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius with no or limited overshoot (>50 per cent chance), and strongly increase the challenge of limiting warming to two degrees Celsius”.
NDCs embody individual country efforts to address growing emissions.
“Starting from the global emissions implied by the current unconditional NDCs for 2030 would double the required rate of annual emission cuts between 2030 and 2035, relative to immediately enhanced action,” the report explained.
“Specifically, if action in line with two degrees Celsius or 1.5 degrees Celsius pathways were to start in 2024, then global emissions would need to be reduced by an average of 4 and 7.5 per cent every year until 2035, respectively. If enhanced action that goes beyond current unconditional NDCs is delayed until 2030, then the required annual emission reductions rise to an average of 8 per cent and 15 per cent to limit warming to two degrees Celsius or 1.5 degrees Celsius, respectively,” it added.