The Clean Energy Revolution Is Moving Too Slowly
The power sector is making progress toward net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050, but a more concerted effort is needed.
Wind power has been struggling lately.
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images
If the fight to avoid catastrophic global warming were a football game, then Team Let’s Maybe Not Have an Apocalypse would be stuck on its own 2-yard line, trailing by a touchdown with less than a minute to go. Also, the starting quarterback has a torn ACL. A victory is still possible, but it will take legendary effort.
The International Energy Agency on Tuesday released an update of the energy sector’s progress toward reaching net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. The sector is the world’s biggest source of atmospheric carbon, so hitting this target is critical to limiting planetary heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial averages and thus keeping the climate from becoming far more hostile to human life than it already is. On this front, there is good and bad news.