Seven realities to deal with in building a carbon-free world

Climate change now dominates people's minds and conversations around the world. It also supports significant action by governments and companies in the form of net zero targets. While general recognition of climate change is good news, it also breeds well-intentioned but sometimes misguided activism. The real risks now lie in pursuing impossible, haphazard and uncoordinated actions, reverting to commitment and paralysis and numbing inaction. While getting rid of unabated carbon is essential, there are seven realities we need to deal with before we get there. This is a transition, not a change. Renewables are growing, but not fast enough. However, fossil fuels are not slowing down in absolute terms. Primary energy demand increased by 5.8 % in 2021, surpassing 2019 levels by 1.3 %. Between 2019 and 2021, energy from renewable sources increased by more than 8 EJ. Fossil fuel consumption was essentially unchanged and accounted for 82 % of primary energy consumption in 2021, down from 83 % in 2019 and 85 % five years ago. The five key reasons why renewables are not growing faster are the high cost of supplied energy with increasing renewable energy penetration, limited storage capacity and high energy storage costs, lack of infrastructure, political and regulatory barriers, and local constraints and saturation. The truth is that these are massive system-wide changes that are necessarily challenging and should be seen as a transition, not a change. Moreover, there cannot be a universal option for the energy transition. (Anish DE, The Economic Times)