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COP28: Tracking the Energy Outcomes
…Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C. For the first time, governments explicitly recognised that to achieve this target, energy-related emissions need to reach net zero by 2050, and they set key goals to help meet this objective – including tripling global renewable energy capacity and doubling global energy efficiency improvements by 2030, and deploying emerging technologies, such as low-emissions hydrogen and carbon capture.The IEA, in collaboration with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat, is tracking progress towards the energy objectives established at COP28. This forms part of our broader work…
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Investment
…energy this year is set to be twice the amount going to fossil fuels Key findings Global energy investment set to hit record in 2025 despite headwinds Total energy investment worldwide is poised to grow by 2% in 2025 to $3.3 trillion, reaching an all-time high despite elevated geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty. Around two-thirds of all energy investment, or $2.2 trillion, is destined for clean energy technologies such as renewable energy, grids, battery storage and electric vehicles. Meanwhile, investment in fossil fuels is expected to marginally contract to $1.1 trillion amid downward pressure on…
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Net Zero Emissions
An increasing number of countries have been making pledges to reduce their emissions to net zero in the coming decades. To inform these efforts, the IEA released a first-of-its-kind Net Zero Roadmap in 2021, outlining what would be required within the energy sector to achieve this goal at the global level by mid-century. An update to the Roadmap, which has served as an essential benchmark for policy makers, industry, the financial sector and civil society, was published in 2023.The Roadmap is based on the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions (NZE) Scenario, which portrays a pathway for the…
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Climate Change
…larger scale, IEA analysis shows – with even greater international co-operation and ambition from policy makers, as well as the swift and full implementation of the energy commitments made at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. These include the global 2030 pledges to triple renewable power capacity, double energy efficiency progress, substantially reduce methane emissions, and accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. Clean energy growth is keeping the path to limiting global warming to 1.5 °C Established in 1993, CCXG activities are jointly supported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the IEA. Established…
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Energy Innovation
CERT co-ordinates and promotes the development, demonstration and deployment of clean energy technologies. The CERT has established five working parties: the Working Party on Fossil Energy; the Working Party on Renewable Energy Technologies; the Working Party on Energy End-Use Technologies; the Fusion Power Co-ordinating Committee and the Working Party of Industrial Decarbonisation. The CERT has also established an Experts' Group on R&D Priority-Setting and Evaluation (EGRD) to advise on R&D priority-setting, linkages to governmental policy objectives and methods in the evaluation of R&D activities, and an understanding of emerging R&D topics. Energy…
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Energy and Gender
…positions has been rising faster than the economy-wide average since 2015. Renewables and nuclear have seen particularly strong progress, while there have only been marginal gains in oil and gas supply, and coal witnessed declines. Women’s share of leadership roles in the energy sector now stands at 18% – up from 13% in 2015, but still below the economy-wide average of 25%. Nearly one in three people lack access to clean cooking, disproportionately affecting women and children Women disproportionately endure the negative consequences of a lack of access to clean cooking fuel supplies. In addition to health risks…
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Russia's War on Ukraine
…their energy security. At the same time, cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels are growing faster than ever. Due in part to policies unveiled by governments after February 2022, the world’s capacity to produce renewable power is expanding at a remarkable place , while the popularity of clean technologies such as electric vehicles and heat pumps is surging. The biggest legacy of the global energy crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine may be that it accelerates the end of the fossil fuel era - with IEA projections now showing that under today's policy settings, demand for oil, gas and coal…
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Energy and Water
…and current trends point to another doubling to 2030. Some 21,000 desalination plants currently operate in about 150 countries, from the United States and China to Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia – though half of global installed capacity is located in the Middle East and North Africa. Renewables can help ease the energy sector's water problem In a scenario in which global energy sector emissions reach net zero by 2050, water withdrawals by the energy sector decline by almost 20 bcm by 2030. The biggest reductions happen in the power sector, where withdrawals fall nearly 15% as coal…
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Critical Minerals
Critical minerals are essential for a range of today’s energy technologies and for the broader economy. For example, lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite are crucial to battery performance. Rare earth elements are essential indispensable to the permanent magnets used in wind turbines and electric vehicle motors. Electricity networks need a huge amount of aluminium and copper, the latter of which is the cornerstone of all electricity-related technologies. As demand for these materials grows strongly, their strategic importance has also increased – and policymakers have made ensuring secure and resilient mineral supply chains a major priority. Critical Minerals Security…
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Access and Affordability
…Senegal, Uganda and Zambia, with the aim of promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth through the transition towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient energy sector, while delivering universal and affordable energy access to all. Today, 730 million people around the world live without access to electricity, while over 2 billion people continue to rely on harmful cooking fuels such as charcoal, wood, agricultural waste and animal dung – the use of which is a leading cause of premature death and serious health issues in many of the poorest regions of the world.The IEA is at the forefront of efforts to…