Climate Change: Expected reductions in fossil fuel emissions from power generation

A study conducted by Ember, an independent research organization on climate and energy affairs, projects that renewable energy sources (wind and solar power) will meet the increase in global demand for electricity this year.

Electricity generation will be the world’s largest source of energy-related greenhouse gas carbon dioxide emissions in 2021.

Phasing out coal, oil and gas in the energy sector is seen as critical to helping the world avoid dangerous levels of climate change.

The Ember study analyzed data from several countries representing 93% of global electricity demand.

The fourth edition of the Ember Global Electricity Review showed significant progress in reducing the share of fossil fuels in energy production.

The study report concluded that the main developments are reliance on solar energy and wind power as economically viable sources. Solar energy grew by 24% worldwide last year, enough to meet the annual needs of a large country. Like South Africa.

The report added that renewable energy sources and nuclear power will account for 39% of global electricity generation by 2022, indicating that electricity generated last year was actually the cleanest it has ever been.

Despite these findings, the report says carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector continue to rise globally as a result of increased use of coal in electricity generation.

In 2022, nuclear and hydropower are facing problems and crises, many nuclear reactors in France are not connected to the Internet, and the water levels of rivers in Europe have dropped significantly in different regions.

By the current year 2023, growth in wind and solar power will outpace global electricity demand, the report says.

“If you stop using more fossil fuels to generate electricity, you’ll start to see a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,” said Malgorzata and Yadros Motika, lead authors of the report.

“It’s very important in terms of increasing electric charging, we have more electric cars, more heat pumps, so cleaning up the power sector means less emissions in other sectors as well,” Motyka added.

Although the decline in fossil fuel emissions in electricity generation is expected to be small, or 0.3%, this year, the study authors believe it will continue at an accelerated rate in the coming years.

The report attributed the slight decline in gas use last year to some countries, such as Brazil, seeing an increase in reliance on hydroelectricity and reducing gas use by 46% by 2022.

Dave Jones, one of the report’s co-authors at Ember, said: “We’ve now reached the next tipping point, one where we’re starting to see a new era of lower fossil fuel emissions in the energy sector. We know wind and solar are the answer, and we need to move forward with a roadmap to build them faster.

China plays an important and influential role in the global trend of energy use. About 50% of global wind energy comes from China, and 40% of the world’s new solar energy comes from the country, which is also the world’s largest user of coal energy.

“At the rate China builds wind, solar and all kinds of clean power generators, it will hit peak coal production before 2025, which will be very significant,” Jones added.

Energy experts agree that curbing the use of fossil fuels in power generation is a “tipping point,” but there is much to be done before that.

Professor Jessica Jewell of the University of Bergen, who was not involved in the study, said the UK’s first peak in coal-fired power generation was in 1979.

“However, it will take decades to phase out coal power completely, for example the UK will still use very little coal in 2022, 43 years after the peak, so we will not have 40 or even 40 to meet clean energy targets. In 30 years, we will decarbonise and decarbonize the entire electricity sector in a very short period of time. should be reduced.”