The ambitions of the States in terms of energy transition are not up to the Paris Agreement, warns a United Nations report. The forecasts show that the efforts undertaken should be multiplied by at least three.
"In order to be on track to limit the rise in global temperatures below 2 ° C, in accordance with the Paris Agreement, approximately 3,000 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity should be added by 2030", underline in a report the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and Bloomberg new energy finance (BNEF).
Less and less important efforts
However, governments and companies have so far committed to only 826 GW of new renewable capacity (excluding hydro), at an estimated cost of around 1,000 billion dollars, according to their calculations. The report thus confirms the "huge gap" between the ambitions of the different countries of the world and the requirements in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The authors also point out that the efforts made for the coming decade appear “modest” compared to what has been done in the past. Over the decade 2010-2019, the world had indeed recorded additional capacities of 1,213 GW of renewables (excluding large hydroelectric dams), for an investment of nearly 2.700 billion dollars. In 2019 alone, this resulted in a record 184 GW of new capacity (including 118 GW in solar and 61 in wind), 20 GW more than in 2018.
The Covid-19, a brake and an issue?
But since then, the Covid-19 crisis has slowed plans and this will affect investment levels in 2020, say the authors. "However, governments now have the opportunity to adapt their stimulus packages to accelerate the exit from polluting processes and adopt sustainable technologies at competitive costs," said the report.
"The stakes are high: if we miss this chance, it could become even more difficult to find financing to decarbonize the energy system in a post-Covid-19 global economy characterized by high public debts and constrained finances in the sector private, ”he warns.
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