Climate change risks undermining global energy security unless the use of renewables is dramatically scaled up, the UN has warned, also suggesting that the ripple effect of the conflict in Ukraine could speed up the green transition.
In its 2022 State of Climate Services, the WMO has warned that increasingly intense extreme weather events, droughts, floods and sea-level rise are already making the energy supply less reliable.
It also stressed that in order to limit the global temperature rise which is undermining energy security, electricity tapped from clean energy sources must double over the next eight years.
“Net zero by 2050 is the aim," said WMO chief Petteri Taalas. "But we will only get there if we double the supply of low-emissions electricity within the next eight years”.
Currently, the energy sector is responsible for an estimated 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, this impact could increase alongside the rising...