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IEA: Renewables should overtake coal ‘within five years’ to secure 1.5C goal
(CarbonBrief, 18 May 2021) The world needs a “radical” shift towards renewables to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and secure the 1.5C goal, says the International Energy Agency (IEA).
This would see renewable energy overtake coal by 2026, passing oil and gas before 2030. By 2050, it should go on to meet two-thirds of global energy supply and nearly 90% of electricity generation.
In a 227-page report, titled “Net-zero by 2050: A roadmap for the global energy sector,” the IEA calls for “a total transformation of the energy systems that underpin our economies”.
It says this is a “critical year at the start of a critical decade for these efforts”, which must start turning the world’s energy system from one dominated by fossil fuels into a future “powered predominantly by renewable energy like solar and wind”.
The roadmap sets more than 400 milestones showing how this transformation should happen, including an immediate end to new investment in fossil-fuel extraction and net-zero electricity by 2040.
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