Page 5 - AfrElec Week 15

AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec
the energy transition from fossil fuel to renew- able energy.
The region had previously been noted as being a poor performer in combating climate change. Japan has already been criticised for failing to improve its 26% IPCC emissions reduction target ahead of the now-postponed COP26 meeting.
The economic crisis means that government could reduce its policy and financial commit- ment to green energy and the energy transition in general.
“The collapse in oil and gas prices and decline in coal prices together will undermine support for renewable energy in most countries, at least in the short term, because governments have other matters to worry about,” said Philip Andrews-Speed, senior principal fellow at the Energy Studies Institute at the National Univer- sity of Singapore.
“They (the governments) will have even less ability to provide direct financial support, and renewable energy supply chains have been dis- rupted,” he explained.
The World Bank reduced its GDP forecasts for a number of regional economies, with a number set to see their economies contract. Thailand (5%), Indonesia (4.6%) and Malaysia (3.5%) are all forecast to see GDP fall in 2020 as a whole.
On the other hand, the IEA found in 2019, that is before COVID-19, that regional demand for electricity would rise by 6% in 2020, with coal, or at least clean coal, being a major fuel to meet this demand.
Therefore, while power demand and emis- sions may be falling, economic decline could prompt governments to take their foot of the energy transition accelerator.
IEA executive secretary Fatih Birol has urged governments to stay committed to the energy transition and to put clean energy at the heart of stimulus plans to counter the coronavirus crisis.
“We should not allow today’s crisis to com- promise our efforts to tackle the world’s inescap- able challenge,” he warned on March 14, when the coronavirus crisis reached global propor- tions. ™
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Week 15 16•April•2020 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
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