International energy agency warns that the push to more eco-friendly technologies should be intensified. Countries and companies around the world will not be able to deliver on their promises of less harmful emissions if sustainable innovations are no longer rushed.
“There is a big gap today between the climate goals that governments and companies have set for themselves and the current state of affordable and reliable energy technologies to achieve these goals,” said IEA Director Fatih Birol.
In order to achieve the emission targets, whereby countries and companies have brought emissions to zero by 2050, they depend on technologies that are not yet on the market. Without acceleration of innovation, the Paris-based agency will not achieve its goals.
In particular, the IEA points to polluting sectors where alternatives to reduce emissions are scarcely available, such as in shipping and heavy industries such as the steel, cement and chemical industries.
The innovation process to market a research lab product on a large scale takes a long time and success is not guaranteed, the IEA warns. As an example, the agency mentions the development of solar panels and batteries prior to the stage in which they are now. “The time is now even shorter,” it sounds.
The IEA also points to the need to continue to innovate existing clean technologies such as windmills, electric vehicles and certain applications for the capture, use and storage of CO2. This is to reduce costs and speed up their application.
About three-quarters of the upcoming reductions in harmful emissions, which would be needed to put the world on a sustainable path, will come from technologies that have not yet reached full maturity, according to the IEA report.
The so-called green energy is not exactly as green as it looks. The power for your zero-emission electric car needs to be generated elsewhere. Solar and wind is not an option to maintain the grids and may only used under favourable conditions. Not only from economic, but even from environmental point of view green tech shifts pollution but does not eliminate it.
No Comments