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Actions needed to reach climate goals

Solar energy, one of the energy production recommended by the IPCC

According to experts, the world must act by investing $5.7 trillion in private and public money each year
through 2030 to shift away from fossil fuels and ensure the planetary warming they provoke doesn't go
beyond acceptable tolerances.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, a massive increase in solar and wind power
generation is needed, along with improved energy efficiency, electrification of transport and heating
systems, expanded use of hydrogen made with renewables and greater efforts to capture carbon emissions.
Scientists say global emissions need to drop 45 percent by the end of this decade compared to 90’s levels. But
recent data show that despite rapid growth in renewable energy, total emissions are going up, not down,
amid rising energy demand and the expansion of fossil fuel use.
"The energy transition is far from being on track, and anything short of radical action in the coming years
will diminish, even eliminate, chances to meet our climate goals," said Francesco La Camera, the director-
general of International Renewable Energy Agency.
The agency said investments of $700 billion should be diverted away from fossil fuel expansion such as
drilling wells, laying pipelines, and building power plants that can't be used anymore. Following this pledge,
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, called for an end to private sector financing for coal power, which
surged to record highs last year. In addition, he has urged governments not to delay the shift away from
fossil fuels and he has cited countries such as the United States which intensified their domestic fossil fuel
production along with energy price increases and possibility of supply shortage due to the conflict in
Ukraine.
Guterres said "The current crisis shows that we must accelerate, not slow, the renewable energy transition",
he added "This is the only true path to energy security.”
Yet solar and wind have been making great progress, reports have shown that for the first time, they
accounted for 10 percent of electricity generated globally in 2021, a milestone now reached by at least 50
countries, including the world's top five economies.
China, Japan, and Vietnam were among the seven nations that generated more than 10% percent of their
electricity from solar and wind for the first-time last year.
Denmark was ranked number one in the renewables chart in 2021 with more than half of its electricity from
solar and wind. In the last two years, countries such as Vietnam, Australia and the Netherlands have dropped
a tenth of their demand for fossil fuels in favor of renewables.
According to Ember, an environmental think tank, wind and solar generation must continue to grow by an
ambitious 20 percent each year through 2030, to help meet the Paris accord's 1.5-Celsius goal.

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