Role of IRENA for Global Transition to 100% Renewable Energy

Abstract

The global energy transformation is more than a simple transformation of the energy sector—it is a multi-faceted transformation of our societies and economies. The transition towards a decarbonised global energy system can be realised much more cost-efficiently than previously thought due in part to the rapidly falling costs of renewable energy technologies. This chapter highlights the urgent need for an accelerated energy transition to 2050. Since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 and despite the growth of renewable energy technologies, energy-related CO2 emissions have risen by around 4%. In this context, the next years and decades are critical and the revisions of the NDCs in 2020 in combination with Long-term Strategies must yield a convincing outcome for an energy transition that puts the world on a global pathway to reduced emissions. Technologies for these systems are available today, are deployable and cost-competitive at a large scale and there are quite a lot of studies exploring 100% RE scenarios, indicating that it is clearly topic of growing interest. On this context, the analysis—part of International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) latest global energy transformation roadmap details an energy transition pathway for the global energy-system to meet the Paris Agreement of “well-below 2 °C”. By 2050, renewable energy in the power sector could reach 86%, while representing two-third of total primary energy supply mix. The pace of energy transition can be ramped up by several inter-related factors, ranging from technologies to socio-economics, to institutional drivers and different forms of finance.