The largest in the world “direct air capture” (DAC) plant will allow to capture and remove annually from the atmosphere the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to emissions produced by 870 cars. CO2 is filtered out, mixed with water, and pumped into deep underground wells, where over the course of a few years it turns to stone. The plant was opened in September 2021 in Iceland, and it is operated by the Swiss engineering startup Climeworks.
Around EUR 25 billion have been allocated in energy efficiency investments in buildings from EU funds over the period 2014-2020, while more than half of these fundings (EUR 12.7 billion) have been invested in the public sector, according to the recent JRC report " Financing energy renovations at local and regional levels. European status and good practices".
Source: https://lnkd.in/ghf8kAK9
U.S. primary energy consumption in 2020 was 92.9 Quads, significantly dropping from 100.2 Quads in 2019.
The contribution of renewable energy sources exceeded 12%, while fossil fuels (natural gas, oil, and coal) made up 79%, and nuclear - 9%.
The AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, is a result of eight years of hard work of hundreds of experts and peer-review studies. It represents the world’s full knowledge to date of the physical basis of climate change and found that human activity was “unequivocally” the cause of rapid changes to the climate, including sea level rises, melting polar ice and glaciers, heatwaves, floods, and droughts.
Human influence has warmed the climate at a rate unprecedented in at least the past 2000 years
Under the Paris Agreement, Parties must submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the UNFCCC and to introduce policies aiming the achievement of their stated objectives. The first round of NDCs, submitted by 191 countries, covers more than 90% of global energy‐related and industrial process CO2 emissions.
As of 23 April 2021, 80 countries have submitted new or updated NDCs to the UNFCCC, covering just over 40% of global CO2 emissions.
Still, just a few percent of the global net zero emission targets currently are supported by law (see figure below).
The energy
sector is the source of about 75% of GHG emissions today and holds the key to
preventing the worst effects of climate change.
In its
recent report NET ZERO BY 2050: A ROADMAP FOR THE GLOBAL ENERGY SECTOR,
IEA proposes technological and policy pathways allowing transition to a net zero energy system by 2050 while ensuring stable and
affordable energy supplies, providing universal energy access, and enabling
robust economic growth.
The path to net-zero emissions is challenging: staying on it requires immediate and intensive deployment of all available clean and efficient energy technologies.
Recently published preview of IRENA’s World Energy Transitions Outlook presents an outline of the global strategies towards carbon-neutrality and leads way to a climate-safe 1.5°C pathway by 2050.
It is projected that over 70% of all
decarbonization solutions will involve renewable energy through the direct
supply of low-cost power, efficiency, renewable-powered electrification in
end-use. Carbon capture and removal technologies in combination with bioenergy
will deliver the ‘remaining reductions towards a net-zero energy system.
Over 260 GW of renewable energy capacity were added last year worldwide, exceeding expansion in 2019 by close to 50%, despite the economic slowdown that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. Renewables account for 80% of all new electricity capacity added last year, with solar and wind representing 91% of new renewables, according to the recent report by IRENA.
The 10.3% rise in installed renewable capacity reflects
expansion that beats long-term trends of more modest growth year-on-year.
According to the Global Carbon Project, world's fossil CO2-related emissions have dropped by about 2.6 GtCO2 in 2020 to 34 GtCO2 (see figure below). This decrease, which is equivalent to EU's annual GHG emissions, was caused mainly by the measures taken to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is about 7% below 2019 levels, while, in most countries, daily emissions decreased at the peak of the country’s lockdown by on average 27%.
These 21 GHG reduction policies may allow cutting total emissions in the U.S. by 48 percent in 2030, and by 95 percent in 2050, relative to 2010 levels.
Source: energyinnovation.org
Simulations conducted by Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology LLC have identified policies across all economic sectors to achieve the IPCC’s recommended GHG reductions required to limit global warming to 1.5C.
Energy efficiency, which reduces only buildings' operational carbon footprint, is not enough for transition to low carbon buildings.
67-76% of the total buildings' GHG emissions are
embodied, i.e. associated with the extraction, transportation, and manufacture
of materials and elements, as well as with construction processes and services.
The report [https://lnkd.in/gfYRHc4] published by Architects Climate
Action Network proposes a set of policies, regulations, and
actions to be urgently adopted for the dramatic reduction of embodied carbon
emissions in the UK.
According to World Green Building
Council [https://lnkd.in/g2nXm8J], currently, buildings account for 39% of energy-related
global CO2 emissions.
Architecture 2030 estimates that new construction creates more than 3.7
billion metric tons of embodied carbon emissions annually [https://lnkd.in/gACCNx2].
Unfortunately, according to BloombergNEF, the world's biggest #GHG emitters still are far behind in terms of implementing policies and actions to meet their #ParisAgreement commitments...
