The International Energy Agency (IEA) published a new plan for governments worldwide that outlines policies and investments for making energy systems cleaner and more resilient.
“Special Report on Sustainable Recovery,” from the IEA’s World Energy Outlook series, is based on an analysis completed in coordination with the International Monetary Fund. The plan details a set of policy actions and targeted investments from 2021 to 2023 that could achieve a number of significant outcomes as governments respond to the economic effects of the covid-19 pandemic.
The plan focuses on cost-effective measures spanning six sectors: electricity, transport, industry, buildings, fuels, and emerging low-carbon technologies. It includes more than 30 energy measures that governments could take in response to the pandemic.
“Decisions made now will inevitably shape infrastructure and industries for decades,” the agency said.
According to the IEA, the plan could:
- Boost global economic growth by an average of 1.1 percentage points a year.
- Save or create roughly 9 million jobs a year.
- Reduce annual global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions by a total of 4.5 billion metric tons by the end of 2023.
“In addition, the plan would deliver other improvements to human health and wellbeing, including driving a 5% reduction in air pollution emissions, bringing access to clean-cooking solutions to around 420 million people in low-income countries, and enabling nearly 270 million people to gain access to electricity,” the agency said.
Getting there would require a global investment of around $1 trillion annually over the next three years, according to the report. The IEA pointed out that the $3 trillion total represents about 0.7% of today’s global GDP, and includes both public spending and private finance mobilized by government policies.
As the agency noted, the costs of the leading renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar are far lower now than they were during 2008–2009 crisis. Emerging technologies like batteries and hydrogen are also ready to scale up, the IEA added.
“Policy makers are having to make hugely consequential decisions in a very short space of time as they draw up stimulus packages,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol. “Governments have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reboot their economies and bring a wave of new employment opportunities while accelerating the shift to a more resilient and cleaner energy future.”
