BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 24. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has published a report “From Stocktaking to Action” on climate measures taken at COP28 and announced the start of the third High-Level Dialogue with the COP29 chairmanship on the clean energy transition in New York, Trend reports via IEA.
“We presented during the UN General Assembly, which coincides with Climate Week in New York, a report that the full implementation of the landmark energy targets adopted at COP28 (in December in Dubai) will make it possible to achieve a tripling of renewable energy sources, double energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and significantly accelerate the transformation of the global energy sector,” the published report noted.
The document mentions that 198 countries of the world committed to 1) achieving net zero emissions in the global energy sector by 2050, abandoning fossil fuels; 2) tripling the capacity of renewable energy sources and doubling the rate of improvement of energy efficiency by 2030; and 3) accelerating the introduction of low-emission technologies.
“Achieving the targets for tripling renewable energy capacity will depend on additional international efforts to create the right enabling environment, as well as on countries themselves using the consensus reached at COP28 as a benchmark for the next phase of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement,” the document notes.
The report cites IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol's view that there is a need to intensify international cooperation on accelerating electrification in key sectors of the economy, creating more energy storage to ensure a rapid and secure energy transition.
According to the report, “To take full advantage of the goal of tripling renewable energy capacity, countries need to make a concerted effort to build and upgrade 25 million kilometers of power grids by 2030”.
“By 2030, the world will also need 1,500 gigawatts (GW) of energy storage capacity, of which 1,200 GW must come from battery storage, a 15-fold increase from today's levels,” the IEA report pointed out.
The paper stressed that achieving the goal of doubling energy efficiency by 2030 could potentially reduce global energy costs by nearly 10 percent and cut emissions by 6.5 billion tons.
“In this regard, the transition to electrification is essential. In addition, the use of electric vehicles and heat pumps is much more efficient than their conventional alternatives. More stringent efficiency standards are needed for developing economies, especially for cooling equipment such as air conditioners,” the report detailed.
To complement the release of this report, the IEA also updated its Review of Climate Change Commitments, which provides detailed information on medium- and long-term climate plans for more than 190 countries, including estimates of projected emission reductions in the energy sector.
To note, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) will be held in Azerbaijan in November this year. The decision was made at the plenary meeting of COP28 held in Dubai on December 11 last year. Within two weeks, Baku, having become the center of the world, will host about 70,000-80,000 foreign guests.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference in the climate system. The acronym COP (Conference of Parties) stands for Conference of Parties, which is the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
A total of 198 countries are parties to the convention. Unless the parties have decided otherwise, COP is held annually. The first COP event was held in March 1995 in Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn.
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