Introduction
Key Findings
Recent environmental, economic, and energy security trends highlight major challenges:
- Energy-related CO₂ emissions are at an historic high.
- The global economy remains fragile.
- Energy demand continues to rise.
These trends, along with events such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Fukushima nuclear accident, and the Arab Spring, underscore the need to rethink our global energy system. The accelerated transition towards a lower-carbon energy system offers opportunities across various areas, including energy security, economic recovery, and climate change mitigation.
The Energy Technology Perspectives 2012 Scenario (ETP 2DS)
The ETP 2DS scenario indicates that achieving the transition is technically feasible, provided there is timely and significant government policy action and widespread deployment of clean energy technologies globally. However, several key questions remain:
- Are current trends sufficient to achieve the transition?
- Are clean energy technologies being deployed quickly enough?
- Are emerging technologies advancing sufficiently to play a significant role in the future energy mix?
Current Status of Clean Energy Technologies
- Onshore Wind: Positive progress with cost reductions and significant annual growth rates (27%).
- Solar Photovoltaic (PV): Strong growth with annual growth rates of 42%.
- Electric Vehicles: Government targets aim for 20 million electric vehicles by 2020, which are ambitious and require significant efforts from both public and private sectors.
- Nuclear Expansion: Continued government plans for nuclear expansion in many countries also face significant challenges and require substantial efforts to be realized.
Conclusion
While some clean energy technologies are on track to meet the 2DS objectives, maintaining this progress will be challenging. Significant government and private sector efforts are necessary to ensure the rapid deployment of these technologies and to advance emerging technologies to a level where they can significantly contribute to the future energy mix.
