Globally, power represents the highest emitting sector today; decarbonising this sector is central to reaching zero emissions, and to drive global ambition and progress in other sectors.
This report outlines progress to date, considers best practice from existing initiatives and makes recommendations to strengthen individual initiatives and the overall ecosystem.
The report also informed, and is informed by, the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28).
Decarbonising power to support zero emissions
To achieve zero emissions transition, energy related emissions need to reduce from around 37 gigatonnes of CO2 per year to zero by 2040. The International Energy Agency 2035 pathway, which has the strongest government endorsement, specifies that 60 per cent of energy supply in the G7 should be produced by renewables by 2030.
Collaboration through multilateral initiatives
Decarbonising the power sector requires rapid and collaborative action. The last 15 years have seen extensive efforts from governments, civil society and businesses across the globe, contributing to a large and evolving ecosystem of activities.
More recently, public and governmental bodies have cooperated in their commitments to accelerate support for decarbonisation and enabling technologies. These collaborative commitments are critical to drive ambition and speed up the zero emission transition.
However, the current status and level of progress of initiatives is often unclear; while commitments have been made we don’t know whether these are on track. This has implications in understanding what has been delivered to date, at either initiative or ecosystem level, and how and where to take action to support the zero emissions transition.
Itad has analysed the published evidence available on progress made to deliver these commitments to date. This report shares our findings and recommendations based on them.
Key findings
- Multilateral power sector decarbonisation initiatives have received significant commitments from major economic powers.
- Multilateral power sector initiatives generally align with the IEA’s pathway and with the Paris Agreement, however levels of ambition vary.
- There is evidence of progress by individual initiatives, however progress reporting is mixed. It is currently not possible to chart either the progress of every initiative towards their commitment, or the overall impact of the ecosystem of multilateral power sector initiatives.
- There is a lack of clarity about commitments, how they will be tracked and how the work of the initiative (including the secretariat) will help to contribute to the commitment.
- There are enough good examples to create best practice in establishing clear commitments, operational structures, progress reporting and verification.
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