Only four out of 38 energy sector technologies were on track to meet long-term climate, energy access and air pollution goals in 2017, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) report said Wednesday.
According to the IEA’s latest Tracking Clean Energy Progress (TCEP) report, some technologies made significant progress last year. These four include solar PV with record deployment, LEDs that quickly became the dominant source of lighting in the residential sector, electric vehicle sales that jumped by 54 percent and data centers and networks.
Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, spoke of the critical need for more vigorous action by governments, industry, and other stakeholders to drive advances in energy technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
'The world doesn’t have an energy problem but an emissions problem, and this is where we should focus our efforts,' he said.
However, the IEA analysis finds that most technologies are not on track to meet long-term sustainability goals.
'Energy efficiency improvements, for example, have slowed and progress on key technologies like carbon capture and storage remains stalled. This contributed to an increase in global energy-related CO2 emissions of 1.4 percent last year,' the IEA highlighted.
This was in spite of the fact that the IEA found a 13 percent rise in total public spending on low-carbon energy technology innovation to more than $20 billion.
According to the report, a total of 11 out of 38 technologies surveyed by the IEA were significantly not on track.
'In particular, unabated coal electricity generation [meaning generation without Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage, or CCUS], which is responsible for 72 percent of power sector emissions, rebounded in 2017 after falling over the last three years,' the statement read.
Furthermore, two technologies, onshore wind and energy storage, were downgraded this year, as their progress slowed. The number of technologies 'in need of improvement' totaled 23 including these two.
This year, the TCEP is tracking progress against the Sustainable Development Scenario.
In this scenario, 'meeting long-term sustainability goals requires an ambitious combination of more energy efficient buildings, industry and transport, and more renewables and flexibility in power,' according to the IEA.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr