On Thursday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that the net-zero emission target is still far from the currently planned power sector transformation.
In 2020, the global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are seen to fall by 8% from last year’s level to the lowest since 2010 on the back of the slower economic growth caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the IEA foresaw the trend to not continue as more vehicles being electrified and increases in metal recycling and heat production for industry and homes. Currently, the transport, industry, and building sectors account for more than 55% of CO2 emissions from the energy system.
In 2050, the IEA expected electricity generation would need to be around 2.5 times higher than it is today. It would require a rate of growth equivalent to the entire US power sector every three years. Annually, renewable electricity capacity would need additions of an average of around four times the current record, which was reached in 2019.
According to the IEA, between a third and a half of cumulative emissions easings needed come from technologies not commercially available today such as low-carbon hydrogen produced by electrolysis powered by renewable energy, and technology to capture carbon emissions released to the atmosphere and store them.
For low-carbon hydrogen, a sizable amount of additional power generation is required and it is seen as a way for industries, such as steel, to decarbonize.
The global electrolyzers capacity has to grow to 3,300 GW from today’s 0.2 GW. Those electrolyzers would have to consume twice the amount of electricity that China generates to produce enough hydrogen to reach net-zero emissions.
