Tuesday 18 May 2021

IEA: ‘Fossil-fuel boilers should be banned from 2025’

A global ban on new fossil-fuel boilers needs to be introduced by 2025 if the world is to reach net zero by 2050.

In a report published today, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has also stressed that there is no place for new coal, oil or gas exploration or supply.

The agency suggests the least efficient coal plants should be phased out by 2030 and says remaining operational coal plants need to be retrofitted by 2040.

The IEA's analysis estimates that the world would need to build ten heavy industrial plants fitted with carbon capture utilisation and storage technology every month from 2030, if it is to pursue a 2050 net zero goal.

It suggests the 2050 target also requires the construction of three new hydrogen-based industrial plants and 2GW of new electrolyser capacity per month, starting from 2030.

The report suggests that by mid-century, almost 70% of electricity generation globally will come from photovoltaic solar and wind.

It also notes that sales of new petrol and diesel cars around the world should come to an end in 2035 - a goal to have 60% of global car sales electric by 2030 is also included in the organisation's roadmap to net zero.

In addition, the IEA estimates a total annual energy investment of $5 trillion (£3.5tn) by 2030 is needed to create a sustainable path for global economic growth.

It suggests policymakers must more than triple the current investment in clean energy and energy infrastructure by 2030.

The report also highlights:

• Technologies that are already developed can lead to most of the global reductions in carbon dioxide emissions between now and 2030 in the net zero pathway.
• In 2050, half of the reductions come from technologies that are currently only at the demonstration or prototype phase.
• By 2050 global energy demand could be nearly 8% smaller than it is today, but it would serve an economy more than twice as big and a population with two billion more people.

Fatih Birol, IEA Executive Director, said: "Our roadmap shows the priority actions that are needed today to ensure the opportunity of net-zero emissions by 2050, narrow but still achievable, is not lost.

"The scale and speed of the efforts demanded by this critical and formidable goal, our best chance of tackling climate change and limiting global warming to 1.5°C, make this perhaps the greatest challenge humankind has ever faced."