Governments failing to avert dangerous climate change, IEA warns by International Energy Agency 11:31pm 23rd Apr, 2012   Governments failing to avert catastrophic climate change, IEA warns.    Governments are falling badly behind on low-carbon energy, putting carbon reduction targets out of reach and pushing the world to the brink of catastrophic climate change, the world"s leading independent energy authority has warned.    The stark judgment is being given at a meeting of energy ministers from the world"s biggest economies and emitters taking place in London.    "The world"s energy system is being pushed to breaking point," Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, writes in today"s Guardian.    "Our addiction to fossil fuels grows stronger each year. Many clean energy technologies are available but they are not being deployed quickly enough to avert potentially disastrous consequences."    On current form, she warns, the world is on track for warming of 6C by the end of the century – a level that would create catastrophe, wiping out agriculture in many areas and rendering swathes of the globe uninhabitable, as well as raising sea levels and causing mass migration, according to scientists.    Van der Hoeven, put the blame squarely on policymakers, and called on Government ministers to step up.    She said: "The current state of affairs is unacceptable precisely because we have a responsibility and opportunity to act. Energy-related CO2 emissions are at historic highs, and under current policies, we estimate that energy use and CO2 emissions would increase by a third by 2020, and almost double by 2050. This would be likely to send global temperatures at least 6C higher within this century."    In its report, Tracking Clean Energy Progress, the IEA, widely regarded as the gold standard for energy research, ranked progress on 11 key low-carbon indicators, including renewables, nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage. It found the world was on track to meet just one of these targets.    Some technologies that governments have been relying on to reduce emissions – such as carbon capture and storage – were not even off the ground yet, despite years of development.    To meet the carbon cuts that scientists say are needed by 2020, the IEA says, the world needs to generate 28% of its electricity from renewable sources and 47% by 2035. Yet renewables now make up just 16% of global electricity supply.    On carbon capture and storage, the picture is even worse: the world needs nearly 40 power stations to be fitted with the technology within eight years, and so far none at all have been built.    Plans for new nuclear plants have been affected by last year"s nuclear accident at Fukushima, Japan, and expectations for atomic energy capacity in 2025 have been scaled back by 15%.    That shortfall will have to be made up elsewhere, such as by further increases in renewables, if the world is to avoid temperature increases of more than 2C above pre-industrial levels – the limit of safety, scientists say, beyond which climate change becomes catastrophic.    There were however a few bright spots on the low-carbon energy scene, the IEA said – "mature" renewable technologies, such as onshore wind, hydro-electricity and solar panels, all offer promise.    However, the capacity for some of these technologies is limited – most of the best locations for hydroelectricity in many countries are already in use, for example. The world urgently needed to bring forward other technologies, such as offshore wind, if the targets were to be met, one of the report"s authors said.    Energy efficiency is the most cost-effective way to cut emissions and increase energy security, but businesses and governments were failing to invest in it, the report found. Progress was also slow on electric vehicles and more efficient cars, while of the coal-fired power stations being built, about half continued to use old inefficient technology instead of more modern designs.    Van der Hoeven said: "Government ministers need to heed our warning of unacceptably slow progress, and act to seize the security, economic and environmental benefits that the clean energy transition can bring."    Apr 2012    We can have safe, sustainable energy, by Maria van der Hoeven.    Progress in renewables shows rapid change is possible; the output from onshore wind has grown 27% annually over 10 years.    The world"s energy system is being pushed to breaking point, and our addiction to fossil fuels grows stronger each year. Many clean energy technologies are available, but they are not being deployed quickly enough to avert potentially disastrous consequences.    This is the message the International Energy Agency will deliver to a meeting of ministers and representatives of nations that together account for four-fifths of world energy demand.    In a new report we find that achieving a more secure, sustainable energy system, in line with the goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 2C, is still possible but requires urgent action by the world"s major governments.    The present state of affairs is unacceptable precisely because we have a responsibility and opportunity to act. Energy-related CO2 emissions are at historic highs; under current policies we estimate energy use and CO2 emissions will increase by a third by 2020, and almost double by 2050. This would probably send global temperatures at least 6C higher within this century.    It doesn"t have to be this way. One need only look at the recent progress made by a portfolio of renewable technologies to see that rapid technological change is possible.    In particular, the output from onshore wind power has grown by 27% annually over the past decade. Solar panels easily installed by households and businesses (known as solar PV) have grown 42% annually, albeit from a small base.    But other technologies with great potential for energy and emissions savings are making much less progress. Vehicle fuel-efficiency improvement is slow in many countries, and manufacturers sales projections for electric vehicles after 2014 are a fraction of government targets.    Carbon capture and storage is not seeing the rate of investment needed to develop full-scale demonstration projects. In addition, half of new electricity demand has been met by coal; and to make things more challenging, 50% of those new coal-fired power plants are still being built with inefficient technology. All these trends are going in the wrong direction.    We offer three recommendations to address some of these concerns.    First, level the playing field for clean energy technologies. This means ensuring that energy prices reflect the "true cost" of energy – accounting for the positive and negative impacts of energy production and consumption.    It also means removing fossil fuel subsidies (which were at $409bn worldwide in 2010, against the $66bn allotted for renewable energy support), while ensuring all citizens have access to affordable energy.    Second, unlock the potential of energy efficiency, the "hidden fuel" of the future. The IEA has developed 25 energy efficiency policy recommendations that, if implemented globally now, could cumulatively save about 7.3 gigatonnes of CO2 a year by 2030. That"s equivalent to Europe"s current energy bill, or about €850bn a year. Governments should commit to applying these measures as soon as possible.    And finally, accelerate energy innovation and public support for research, development and demonstration. This will help lay the groundwork for private sector innovation and speed technologies to market.    Mar 2012    More Deadly weather disasters predicted. (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)    Global warming is leading to such severe storms, droughts and heatwaves that nations should prepare for an unprecedented onslaught of deadly and costly weather disasters, an international panel of climate scientists says in a new report.    The greatest danger from extreme weather is in highly populated, poor regions of the world, the report warns, but no corner of the globe is immune. The report by a Nobel Prize-winning panel of climate scientists forecasts stronger tropical cyclones and more frequent heat waves, deluges and droughts.    The report blames the scale of recent and future disasters on a combination of man-made climate change, population shifts and poverty.    In the past, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, founded in 1988 by the United Nations, has focused on the inexorable rise of temperatures as part of global warming. The latest report by the panel is the first to look at the far more noticeable extreme weather changes, which recently caused such widespread damage.    "We mostly experience weather and climate through the extreme," said Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field, who is one of the report"s editors. "That"s where things have the potential to fall apart. There are lots of places that are already marginal for one reason or another," Field said. But it"s not just poor areas, there is a disaster risk almost everywhere."    The scientists say that in the future some places, could become almost uninhabitable from floods, storms and rising seas. In 2005, for example over 24 hour peroid nearly one metre of rain fell on the city of Mumbai, killing more than 1000 people and causing massive damage. Roughly 2.7 million people live in areas at risk of flooding.    Other cities at such risk include Miami, Shanghai, Bangkok, China"s Guangzhou, Vietnam"s Ho Chi Minh City, Burma"s Rangoon and India"s Kolkata. The people of small island nations, such as the Maldives, may also need to abandon their homes because of rising seas and fierce storms.    "Such occurences is something the world community will have to face with increasing frequency in the future," Field said.    The study also forecasts that some tropical cyclones - which includes hurricanes in the United States - will be stronger because of global warming. Scientists also predict more heatwaves and record hot temperatures worldwide. Visit the related web page
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