“The road to the transition is right but we need to accelerate on renewables”
[ad_1]
“The direction is the right one. The problem is the speed at which we are travelling: we go too slowly, and if we want to make it in time we will have to run a lot in the next few years”. Francesco La Camera, director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) in recent days had talks with many of the Italian authorities involved in the fight against climate change: Ministers Urso and Pichetto Fratin, the heads of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, the secretary general of the foreign ministry, the head of the Italian sherpas at the G7. And with many of them he used an “automotive” example. “If you leave Rome at 12 and make an appointment in Milan at 5, it means that you have 5 hours and you have to maintain an average of 120 km per hour. But if you go to 80 for the first hour, you have to go to 130 for the next four hours. and if even in the second hour you go to 80, in the last three you have to go to 160… and so on. The same thing is happening with the climate objectives”.
The report
The IPCC report: “Immediately adopt all available measures to cut emissions”
by Cristina Nadotti
This slowness, according to La Camera, means that at the moment “we are absolutely out of the path that should lead us to grasp the result indicated by the Paris Agreements. The direction is the right one: there is continuous growth of renewables, therefore the transition is in place. But the speed of the transition is not enough”. Yet investments in photovoltaic and wind power are growing almost exponentially. Just Irena recently published an analysis according to which it has gone from 263 billion dollars in 2016 to almost 500 in 2022. “But that’s not enough”, warns La Camera. “The window of opportunity to achieve the Paris objectives is closing. And at the moment we are way off track.”
Abandoning the automotive metaphor, the director of Irena explains that according to the IPCC, the intergovernmental panel on climate change, globally it would be necessary to install 10,000 gigawatts of renewables between now and 2030 to cut emissions by 45% and stay below 1.5 degrees of warming. In short, more than 1000 gigawatts a year. “But we are installing far fewer of them,” warns La Camera. “And so we’re going to have to do a lot more in the years to come.” In his Italian dialogues, the number one of Irena, an agency based in Abu Dhabi, underlined Africa’s crucial role in the transition: “Two circumstances are evident. One is that Africa is and will be the most important power house for the production of renewable energies and green hydrogen. The second is that Italy has a natural vocation as a link between Europe and Africa: it could play the role of a distribution platform”.
EU, agreement on the renewable energy directive. Faster permits, the contribution of green sources is growing. There is also nuclear power
It is a workhorse of La Camera: in times of climate crisis, development cooperation should be interpreted as aid to develop green technologies and energies. “Even the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund should have a greater role in the construction of infrastructure and networks, especially in Africa and South-East Asia. These infrastructure operations are also development interventions: today, even if I wanted to produce electricity in Africa, I wouldn’t be able to distribute it and there would be no one able to pay for it. So we need a sort of Marshall Plan for Africa. And for this the role of the banks is fundamental”.
The data
In the last 6 months, the demand for gas in Italy has dropped by 20%
by Luca Fraioli
Irena proposes itself as a “facilitator” of contacts between developing countries and rich countries as regards infrastructure for renewables. “Both Ministers Urso and Pichetto Fratin and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti di are said to be very interested”, says La Camera. However, the Italian government imagines for us a future as a European gas hub, rather than green energy produced in Africa. “The IPCC says gas production must decrease from 2025, Irena does not say so”, points out La Camera. “And it is clear that, not only in Italy but globally, policies should be put in place that are consistent with this objective: gas must reach its peak in 2025”.
[ad_2]
Source link
