A new study shows getting to net-zero emissions is doable. Here’s how.

SCIENTISTS WARN that humanity must eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or risk devastating consequences. The International Energy Agency (IEA), a reputable international outfit of energy wonks, released last week a wide-ranging report arguing that such a transition is possible. It would just be very hard.

The agency rejects fantasies that everyone will suddenly eschew air conditioning and walk to work, figuring that behavioral change will drive only 4 percent of emissions cuts. Moreover, some 785 million people lack access to electricity. For them, the priority is getting this essential service, not how that happens. The goal must be to advance living standards everywhere while cutting the environmental impact.

This would require “a singular, unwavering focus from all governments — working together with one another, and with businesses, investors and citizens,” the report declares. An efficiency drive — changing the technology people use to build buildings, heat homes, produce goods and do practically everything else — would reduce overall global energy demand by 2050 while serving an economy more than twice as large. A massive renewables ramp-up would make solar the largest energy source, with photovoltaic capacity jumping twentyfold between now and mid-century. By 2030, the envisioned solar boom would require installing every day the generation capacity of what is currently the world’s biggest solar farm. Wind would leap elevenfold. Emissions-free nuclear power would continue to play a big role.

Read the full article at the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-new-study-shows-getting-to-net-zero-emissions-is-doable-heres-how/2021/05/23/3768b354-b9b6-11eb-a6b1-81296da0339b_story.html