Page 5 - AsiaElec Week 43 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

emissions needed to be cut 45% by 2030 com- emissions.
pared to 2010 levels. The report noted, however, that many net-
The latest science from the IPCC released zero targets remain uncertain and postpone into
earlier this year uses 2019 as a baseline, indicat- the future critical action that needs to take place
ing that GHG emissions need to be cut 43% by now.
2030. This is critical to meeting the Paris Agree- Ambitious climate action before 2030 is
ment goal of limiting the temperature rise to 1.5 urgently needed to achieve the long-term goals
degrees Celsius by the end of this century and of the Paris Agreement.
avoiding the worst impacts of climate change,
including more frequent and severe droughts, Looking back to 2021
heatwaves and rainfall. In January, the International Renewable Energy
Agency (IRENA) found in its own assessment
On to 2050 of the NDCs that the pledges would limit global
Looking ahead to 2050, UN Climate Change warming by 1.8°C by 2050 and 2.1°C by 2100.
said in a separate report that with long-term, IRENA warned at the time in no uncer-
low-emission development strategies that tain terms that the renewable energy commit-
GHG could be roughly 68% lower in 2050 than ments in current NDCs are nowhere near those
in 2019, if all the long-term strategies are fully required to meet the 1.5°C target for 2100, or the
implemented on time. 2050 net-zero target.
The report examined current long-term strat- IRENA’s finding that only 30 NDCs explicitly
egies that represent 62 Parties to the Paris Agree- mention heating and cooling or transport, and
ment, accounting for 83% of the world’s GDP, only 13 parties have committed to a percentage
47% of global population in 2019, and around of renewables in their overall energy mixes, is
69% of total energy consumption in 2019. wholly inadequate.™
The UN said its report sent a strong signal
that the world was starting to aim for net-zero

Week 43 25•October•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P5