Based on the report, solar has been the fastest-growing source of electricity for the 18th consecutive yr, growing 24% year-on-year and adding enough energy to fulfill South Africa’s annual electricity needs.
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Record increases in wind and solar energy last yr pushed global electricity production to its cleanest level ever, the report said, reflecting a renewable energy boom that scientists say could herald “the starting of the end of the fossil fuel era.”
An evaluation published Wednesday by independent think tank Ember found that 12% of the world’s energy got here from solar and wind in 2022, up from 10% of global electricity production in 2021.
Based on the report, solar has been the fastest-growing source of electricity for the 18th consecutive yr, growing 24% year-on-year and adding enough energy to fulfill South Africa’s annual electricity needs.
The report said wind generation growth, which increased by 17% in 2022, could power just about all of the UK
“We’re entering the era of clean energy,” said Małgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, senior electricity analyst at Ember and lead creator of the study. “The stage is about for wind and sun to attain meteoric growth. Clean electricity will transform the global economy, from transportation to industry and beyond.”
Wiatros-Motyka added: “The brand new era of fossil fuel emissions decline signifies that there will probably be a phase-out of coal power, and the end of gas power growth is at hand.”
“Rather more must be done”
The researchers said the evaluation – based on electricity data from 78 countries last yr and representing 93% of global energy demand – provides the first accurate picture of the 2022 electricity transition.
It shows that greater than 60 countries now generate greater than 10% of their electricity from wind and solar.
Renewables and nuclear combined accounted for 39% of global electricity production in 2022 – a recent record.
Despite this progress, scientists said the dramatic expansion of wind and solar energy still wasn’t fast enough to fulfill the growing global demand for electricity. Thus, the report noted that coal and other fossil fuels filled the remaining gap, pushing emissions to a recent record.
Coal, the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, emerged last yr as the world’s largest single source of electricity, producing 36% of the world’s electricity.
Coal, the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, emerged as the world’s single largest source of electricity last yr, producing 36% of the world’s electricity in 2022.
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The burning of fossil fuels similar to coal, oil and gas is the fundamental driver of the climate crisis.
“Rather more must be done to be certain that developing countries usually are not left behind and caught up in carbon-intensive futures,” said Damilola Ogunbiyi, Director-General and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All.
Ogunbiyi said the incontrovertible fact that coal power remained the largest single source of electricity in the world last yr confirmed that the power sector just isn’t on the right track to fulfill its net-zero emissions targets. “The deployment of wind and solar energy have to be significantly and urgently accelerated.”
Have emissions from the energy sector peaked?
Ember’s report says 2022 could mark the peak of electricity emissions and the final yr of fossil fuel power growth, with clean energy set to fulfill all of the demand growth in 2023.
Analysts had predicted a 0.3% decline in fossil fuel production this yr, with more steep declines expected in subsequent years as the deployment of wind and solar energy accelerates.
International Energy Agency he said last yr that the electricity sector must move from the highest emitting sector to a sector one which will probably be net-zero by 2040 – if the world economy is to go decarbonising by mid-century.
For that to occur, Ember analysts said wind and solar must make up 41% of the global energy mix by 2030 – a sharp increase from the 12% seen in 2022.
Li Shuo, a senior policy adviser at Greenpeace East Asia, described China as “an 800-pound gorilla with regards to the global energy sector.”
“That is due not only to China’s sheer scale, but in addition to the worrying trend in the development of its electricity sector. China is undoubtedly at the forefront of the global expansion of renewable energy. But at the same time, the country is accelerating the approval of coal projects,” Li said. .
“It should not take the country far to actually decarbonise. Rapid energy sector reforms are needed to bring the country back to the carbon neutral vision it has set for itself.”