Climate change: do more now or risk catastrophe, warns energy agency

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/13/climate-change-do-more-now-or-risk-catastrophe-warns-energy-agency

Jillian Ambrose
Tue 12 Nov 2019 19.01 EST

The world’s existing climate policies will not be enough to end the upward march of record energy emissions rising beyond 2040 without a “grand coalition” of governments and investors, according to the global energy watchdog.

The International Energy Agency said carbon emissions from the global energy industry reached a new record in 2018 despite progress in renewable energy in recent years.

The IEA expects the growth of renewables to accelerate over the coming decades, but warned it would not be enough to put a ceiling on the energy sector’s emissions before 2040.

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Energy efficiency is one of the most important levers for policymakers to help reduce carbon emissions across the economy, according to the IEA’s report, yet efforts to cut energy waste have fallen to record lows even as the climate crisis has climbed the political agenda.

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