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Global energy-related emissions could peak by 2020 at no net cost: IEA

Xinhua, June 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

A peak in global energy-related emissions could be achieved as early as 2020 and at no net economic cost, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Monday in London.

In its lastest World Energy Outlook Special Report on Energy and Climate Change, the institution said a peak in global energy-related emissions could be achieved as early as 2020 if governments implement just five key policy measures.

These measures included increasing energy efficiency in the industry, buildings and transport sectors, reducing the use of the least-efficient coal-fired power plants and banning their construction, increasing investment in renewable energy technologies in the power sector from 270 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 to 400 billion U.S. dollars in 2030, gradual phasing out of fossil-fuel subsidies to end-users by 2030, reducing methane emissions in oil and gas production.

IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol said the link between economic growth and emissions weakened significantly, but was not broken.

"As IEA analysis has repeatedly shown that the cost and difficulty of mitigating greenhouse-gas emissions increases every year, time is of the essence," said IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven.

"It is clear that the energy sector must play a critical role if efforts to reduce emissions are to succeed. While we see growing consensus among countries that it is time to act, we must ensure that the steps taken are adequate and that the commitments made are kept," she added.

The agency also proposed that the key pillars, which are needed to make the 21st UN Conference of the Parties (COP21) a success, not only contained an early peak in global energy-related emissions, but also concluded three other targets. They are reviewing national climate targets regularly, translating the world's climate goal into a collective long-term emissions goal, establishing a process for tracking achievements in the energy sector.

IEA, which is founded in 1974, was initially designed to help countries co-ordinate a collective response to major disruptions in the supply of oil. While this remains a key aspect of its work, the IEA has evolved and expanded. It is at the heart of global dialogue on energy, providing authoritative statistics and analysis. Endit