Last month, the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact in Paris underlined the need to close the gap on climate finance by driving investment in the clean energy transition in emerging and developing economies. This is a pivotal year, in which the international community must back words with action–and COP28 is a vital moment for countries around the world to agree on concrete steps to stop the 1.5 °C goal from slipping out of reach and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Roadmap to Net Zero Emissions by 2050 shows that we need to scale up viable clean energy technologies massively in the interim to achieve a major reduction in global emissions by 2030. This is a fundamental step on the road to net zero. Achieving this goal will require a wide range of clean energy technologies–but two areas are especially important: energy efficiency and renewable power. To put it simply, the world needs to double the current rate of global energy efficiency progress and triple its total renewable power capacity. A major scaling up of clean energy globally is critical to bring down demand for all fossil fuels.
