IPCC: Solar, wind are ‘big tickets’ to global emissions reduction target

Jim Skea, co-chair of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group III, says half of the global emissions could be slashed using solar and wind by 2030.

Skea spoke at the ongoing Bonn climate change conference on Wednesday.

The Bonn conference is a preparatory meeting intended to lay the technical groundwork for the COP28 summit that starts in November.

Skea said renewable energy sources and avoided deforestation are the low-cost “big tickets” to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

“Our authors estimated that about half of global greenhouse gas emissions could be cut by 2030 based on fairly low-cost measures that are available now,” he said.

“About half of these measures would cost less than 20 dollars per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent. And the really big ticket items are renewable energy.

“Specifically wind and solar. Carbon sequestration in agriculture on avoided deforestation. These are the big items.

“They could get us a long distance, a long part of the way by 2030.”

TheCable had reported that the IPCC issued its latest synthesis report, summarising the physical science, impacts, and mitigation of climate change, as well as providing clarity for policymakers on further actions to slash emissions.

According to the IPCC report, emissions must be halved by the mid-2030s if the world is to have any chance of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.