Page 4 - AfrElec Week 24

AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec

IEA puts $3 trillion price

tag on green recovery

The IEA calls for $3 trillion of new energy investment over three years to avoid emissions
bouncing back to and to move towards the Paris Agreement goals, writes Richard Lockhart

GLOBAL THE IEA has called for $3 trillion of public and the process saving or creating roughly 9 million
private investment in green technology over jobs per year
WHAT: the next three years in a bid stimulate the post- Crucially, investing in green technology
The IEA calls for $3 COVID-19 global economic recovery and to would reduce annual global energy-related
trillion of public and put CO2 emissions into decline on a permanent greenhouse gas emissions by 4.5bn tonnes over
private investment basis. the three years of the plan. It would also reduce
between 2021 and 2023 Its Sustainable Recovery Plan, released on air pollution emissions by 5%, bring access to
June 18, aims to boost economic growth, create clean-cooking solutions to 420mn people and
WHY: millions of jobs and put emissions into structural enable nearly 270mn people to gain access to
This new money is decline. electricity in in developing countries in Africa
needed to stimulate Implementing the plan would mean that and Asia.
economic recovery and emissions would never return to their 2019 peak,
to put emissions into and that energy-sector emissions would be 4.5bn Green technology
decline on a permanent tonnes of CO2 equivalent lower in 2023 com- The report comes up with stimulus policies in six
basis pared to a scenario with no stimulus. key sectors of the economy – electricity, trans-
The major new investment drive is needed port, industry, buildings, fuels and emerging
WHAT NEXT: to offset the forecast 20% reduction in energy low-carbon technologies.
The EIA is saying what investment in 2020 and a forecast 6% contrac- Indeed, green technology would host the
governments could do, tion in the global economy, as the economic largest portion of the millions of new jobs cre-
but there are doubts over fallout of COVID-19 causes government and ated through the Sustainable Recovery Plan.
what will actually happen corporations to rein in spending. These jobs would be involved in the “deep
The report outlines energy-focused policies retrofitting” of buildings to improve energy effi-
and investments to move the world towards a ciency and in the electricity sector, particularly
cleaner and more resilient future. in grids and renewables.
In particular, the plan would accelerate The other areas that would see higher
the deployment of modern, reliable and clean employment include energy efficiency in indus-
energy technologies and infrastructure. tries such as manufacturing, food and textiles;
“Policy makers are having to make hugely low-carbon transport infrastructure; and more
consequential decisions in a very short space efficient and new energy vehicles.
of time as they draw up stimulus packages. Our In terms of innovation, the report calls for
sustainable recovery plan provides them with more focus on crucial technology areas, includ-
rigorous analysis and clear advice on how to ing hydrogen, batteries, carbon capture utilisa-
tackle today’s major economic, energy and cli- tion and storage (CCUS), and small modular
mate challenges at the same time,” said IEA exec- nuclear reactors.
utive director Fatih Birol.
Important sectors
Targets Meanwhile, the report argues that investing $1
The report, which was carried out by the IEA trillion per year in green technology would make
together with the International Monetary Fund, the global energy sector would become more
found that $1 trillion per year of public and pri- resilient, making countries better prepared for
vate investment, equivalent to 0.7% of global future crises. This can be done by enhancing
GDP, would be needed between 2021 and 2023. electricity grids, upgrading hydropower facil-
This includes $300bn per year of government ities, extending the lifetimes of nuclear power
spending alongside supportive policies, which plants and increasing energy efficiency.
the report claims would mobilise private sector This would improve electricity security by
into spending the other $700bn per year. lowering the risk of outages, boosting flexibility
The report found that this investment had the and reducing grid losses.
potential to increase global economic growth by Importantly, it would help integrate larger
an average of 1.1 percentage points per year, in shares of variable renewable generation such as

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 24 18•June•2020