IRENA’s World Energy Transition Outlook 2022

In this year’s publication, IRENA’s World Energy Transition Outlook outlines the necessary actions to achieve the 2030 climate mitigation goals. Staying on the 1.5°C pathway requires several measures to ease energy transition, pursuing system flexibility and market structures to accommodate renewable energy as well as promotion and long-term management of sustainable biomass.

As 80% of the global population resides in countries that are net energy importers, energy transition is paramount to strengthen national resilience, energy security and price stability. Electrification and efficiency are driving forces for energy transition, and rely upon renewables, sustainable biomass and hydrogen. Additional priorities to mitigate emissions encompass carbon capture and storage in the production of bioenergy and the ‘last-mile’ use of carbon capture and storage. As the Outlook states, together, these measures would contribute to a reduction of annual CO2 emissions by 37 gigatonnes by 2050. IRENA suggests that the energy transition should be promoted by political choices, fiscal policies and regimes, simultaneously assessing and ensuring its sustainability on both an environmental and social level, especially in low-income countries.

According to the IPCC, renewables and energy efficiency plans are the most viable solutions towards cutting emissions in half by 2030. This requires an increase in the renewable energy share in electricity generation to 65% and a rise to 19% of direct renewables in end use sectors. To meet energy demand, the contribution of modern bioenergy must grow by 3 times. This requires the development of sustainable biomass supply chains, replacing traditional biomass uses, such as firewood, with clean cooking solutions. The Outlook recommends that policies must be aimed at encouraging the use of bioenergy and should be developed on the basis of sustainability evaluations.

A yearly investment of USD 5.7 trillion until 2030 is needed for the 1.5°C Scenario. However, IRENA’s analysis illustrates the increase in benefits from the energy transition under socio-economically progressive frameworks and regulations:

“By 2030, the 1.5°C-aligned energy transition promises the creation of close to 85 million additional energy transition-related jobs compared to 2019 and support a boost in global gross domestic product (GDP)”.

It is evident that the bioenergy sector requires strong support in the coming years to support the energy transition, and GBEP will continue to work with IRENA to this end.

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