The vast majority of energy technologies, as well as energy-intensive sectors like transportation and chemical production, are not on track to meet international pollution and climate goals, according to a recent study by the International Energy Agency.
Of 38 energy technologies and sectors analyzed for their 2017 efforts to reduce emissions, only four made “tremendous progress,” reports Reuters: electric vehicles, lighting, solar photovoltaics, and data centres and networks.
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“Solar PV experienced record deployment, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) became the dominant source of lighting in homes around the world, and electric vehicle sales jumped 54%,” the news agency notes. But there was only limited progress elsewhere, with energy efficiency efforts slowing and carbon capture and storage initiatives stalling outright.
The IEA study also pointed to lost momentum in the deployment of onshore wind and energy storage in 2017.
Executive Director Fatih Birol urged industry, governments, and other stakeholders to more aggressively support technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, stressing that “the world doesn’t have an energy problem but an emissions problem, and this is where we should focus our efforts.”
