Clean energy rollout too slow to meet 2050 net-zero goals

A report published by the International Energy Agency has painted an encouraging picture of the adoption of clean energy across the world, but warned that it needs to be rolled out across more sectors and regions to meet net-zero targets for 2050.

The IEA's annual Tracking Clean Energy Progress said electric vehicle sales had risen nearly tenfold in just five years, and renewable energy capacity had also grown significantly. But the spread is uneven, with nearly 95 percent of global electric car sales last year happening in China, the United States and Europe alone.

The speed of uptake of technologies, such as electric vehicles and solar photovoltaic power generation, showed what could be done, the report noted, but it needed to be replicated across other sectors for goals to remain within reach.

"Stronger international cooperation is needed to spread progress on electric cars and other key technologies to all regions, particularly emerging and developing economies," the report said.

"Rapid innovation is still needed to bring to market clean technologies for parts of the energy system where emissions are harder to tackle, such as heavy industry and long-distance transport. Positive steps on innovation have been made in the past few years, but a further acceleration is needed to soon bring to market more low-emissions technologies for these areas."

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the report highlighted "very promising developments", but also the need to expand their deployment.

"The clean energy economy is rapidly taking shape, but even faster progress is needed in most areas to meet international energy and climate goals," he said, adding that the progress underlined both the need and potential for greater action globally.

"The extraordinary growth of key technologies like solar and electric cars shows what is possible," he said.

Solar energy was identified as an area of positivity, with government support for projects in China, India and the US picked out for particular praise.

"If all announced projects are realized, global manufacturing capacity for solar PV (photovoltaic) will more than double in the next five years, outpacing 2030 demand in the IEA's Net Zero by 2050 Scenario," the report said.

Despite progress being acknowledged in all of the more than 50 components of the energy system that the study covered, the majority of them are not currently up to speed to reach the 2050 net-zero target.

"Stronger policy support and greater investment are needed across a wide range of different technologies, in all regions of the world, to enable a broader and faster shift toward clean energy to keep net-zero emissions by 2050 within reach," the report said.