Twin Climate and Energy Crises: A Call for Clean Energy Transition

Syllabus: GS3/ Environment

Context

• United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world is confronting twin climate and energy crises driven by fossil fuel dependence, calling for a rapid transition to clean energy with stronger adaptation measures.

The Twin Crises

• Climate Tipping Points: The world has experienced its 11 hottest years on record and the average annual temperatures are likely to exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold agreed under the Paris Agreement in the coming years.
  • It is risking coral reef systems towards collapse, accelerating the loss of ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica, weakening major ocean circulation systems and shifting parts of the Amazon rainforest towards savanna-like conditions.
• Energy Crisis: Recent conflicts in West Asia, had created extreme volatility in global energy supplies, exposing the vulnerability of development models that remain heavily tethered to fossil fuels.

Reasons for the Crisis

• Windfall Profits of Fossil Fuel Companies: Energy price fluctuations during geopolitical conflicts have generated additional profits for the  oil and gas companies.
  • These profits discourage investments in clean energy solutions.
• Grid Bottlenecks: There are many countries that lack adequate electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure. Renewable energy projects face delays because existing power grids cannot efficiently integrate new renewable capacity.
  • Insufficient energy storage facilities also limit the use of renewable energy.
• AI Data Centers: Data centres require large amounts of energy and water for their operations, further contributing to the energy crisis and climate change.
• Inadequate Climate Finance: Developing countries lack sufficient financial resources to invest in clean energy and climate adaptation projects.
  • Existing climate finance commitments remain below the levels required to address the scale of the challenge.

Why is Renewable Energy Important?

• Falling Costs: The cost of solar power, wind power, and battery storage has declined over the last decade, becoming more affordable and competitive than fossil fuel-based energy sources.
• Economic Benefits: Renewable energy reduces the import of  fossil fuels. Also it is creating employment opportunities in manufacturing, installation, and maintenance sectors.
• Environmental Benefits: Dependence on oil and gas makes countries vulnerable to geopolitical tensions and supply disruptions and fluctuations in fossil fuel prices increase economic uncertainty.

Global Call for Methane Reduction

• The UN Secretary-General launched a global Call to Action on Methane, targeting emissions from waste, agriculture and fossil fuel operations.
• Methane as a Greenhouse Gas: Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas with a strong short-term warming impact.
  • It is over 80 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat over a 20-year period.
  • It is responsible for around 30% of the current global warming since the pre-industrial era.

Way Ahead

• The UN chief set out three steps governments and industry can take towards tackling methane’s negative effects:
  • Detect and fix every leak and eliminate routine flaring and cold venting
  • Make emissions measurable, reportable and verifiable
  • Adopt a science-based global methane standard and build a market for near-zero-methane energy.
• According to the International Energy Agency, around 70 per cent of oil and gas methane emissions can be eliminated using existing technologies, much of it at low or no net cost.

Source: DTE, UN, PIB