According to an IEA analysis, this goal may hasten the transition to net zero by 2050.
According to a recent analysis from the International Energy Agency, G7 nations are well positioned to entirely decarbonize their power supply by 2035. (IEA).
According to the IEA, this would hasten the technical advancements and infrastructure rollouts required to take global energy markets to net zero emissions by 2050.
The UK, which is hosting the G7 Presidency this year, commissioned the study Achieving Net Zero Electricity Sectors in G7 Members.
The report’s route shows how the G7 may be early adopters, kicking off innovation and decreasing technology costs for other nations while ensuring power security and putting people at the center of energy changes.
The new research expands on the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050 to identify significant milestones, challenges, and opportunities for G7 countries.
Following up on the G7 Summit in June, it is intended to feed talks at the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, which the UK is also hosting.
The presidents of Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States — as well as the European Union – agreed at the G7 Summit to achieve “an overwhelmingly decarbonized” power sector in the 2030s and net zero emissions across their economies by 2050.
Nearly 40% of the world economy, 36% of global power generation capacity, 30% of global energy consumption, and 25% of global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are currently accounted for by the G7.
Its clean energy transition is well advanced, with coal being phased out in favor of cleaner alternatives.
Electricity currently accounts for one-third of all energy-related emissions in the G7, down from almost two-fifths in 2007.
Natural gas and renewables were the major sources of energy in the G7 in 2020, each accounting for approximately 30% of total generation, with nuclear power and coal accounting for around 20% apiece.
To achieve net zero emissions from energy, the unabated phase-out of coal must be completed while low-emissions electricity sources, such as renewables, nuclear, hydrogen, and ammonia, are expanded.
Renewables must contribute 60 percent of the G7’s energy supply by 2030, according to the IEA’s route to net zero by 2050, whereas they are on track to hit 48 percent under present policy.
The G7 has a chance to show that energy networks based entirely on renewables can be secure and cheap at particular times of the year and in specific places.
Increasing dependence on renewables, on the other hand, necessitates the G7 to take the lead in developing solutions to ensure power security, such as seasonal storage and more flexible and durable networks.
Innovation is responsible for 30% of G7 power sector emissions reductions by 2050, according to the IEA’s road to net zero by 2050, which will necessitate international collaboration while also providing possibilities for G7 nations to lead in technology.
Only around 15% of the reductions in the IEA route come from mature technologies like hydropower and light-water nuclear reactors.
Around 55 percent comes from implementing technologies that either have a lot of room for growth, like onshore wind and solar PV, or are still in the early stages of adoption, such heat pumps and battery storage.
Still-in-development technologies like floating offshore wind, carbon capture, and hydrogen would add another 30% to the total.
People must be at the center of all sustainable energy transitions, according to the new research.
Decarbonizing electricity could generate up to 2.6 million jobs in the G7 over the next decade, but it could also result in the loss of up to 300,000 jobs at fossil-fuel power plants, with significant local consequences that require strong and sustained policy attention to mitigate the negative effects on individuals and communities.
Household energy spending should fall by 2050, as growing electricity costs are more than compensated by reduced costs for coal, natural gas, and oil.
Governments must encourage efficiency gains and arrange energy pricing for consumers and companies in such a way that all families benefit from cost reductions.
“G7 members have the financial and technological means to bring their electricity sector emissions to net zero in the 2030s, and doing so will create numerous spillover benefits for other countries’ clean energy transitions and add momentum to global efforts to reach net zero emissions by 2050,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol (pictured).
“Leadership by the G7 in this critical endeavor would demonstrate that achieving net-zero emissions in the energy sector is both feasible and beneficial, as well as spur new technologies that would benefit companies and consumers.”