Deep decarbonization faces deep challenges
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Energy Sector Analysis
The challenge is to decrease power sector emissions at minimal cost while uplifting standards of living for billions of people.
Deep decarbonization faces deep challenges By Prachi Patel Feature Editor Vickie Gunderson
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n December 2015, delegates from 195 nations met in Paris to sign a momentous agreement to voluntarily curb their countries’ carbon emissions. These countries now face the immense challenge of keeping the planet’s temperature from rising more than 2°C to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Meeting that goal is a tall order. It requires deep cuts to carbon emissions from every major sector of the world’s economy: power, agriculture, industry, transportation, and infrastructure. The power sector will underpin these deep decarbonizing efforts. For one, it's one of the biggest carbon culprits: Burning fossil fuels for electricity and heat accounts for a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The power sector is also easier to target. “There’s the opportunity to cut emissions more rapidly than other sectors because of the various cost-effective options available, from low-carbon substitutes for fossil fuels to energy efficiency,” said Jesse Jenkins, a researcher at the MIT Energy Initiative. Plus, decarbonizing the power sector will have a vast ripple effect, “if we use clean electricity to provide heat, run cars, and power industry.” Current voluntary pledges toward Paris goals will result in the world warming by around 3°C, an analysis in Nature Climate Change showed last year. Keeping warming below 2°C will require driving down the power sector’s emissions by at least 80%, ideally to zero, and maybe even negative, in which carbon dioxide is extracted from the atmosphere. The challenge is to decrease power sector emissions at minimal cost while uplifting standards of living and electrifying the 1.1 billion, or 15% of the global population without access. New materials and technologies could help bring down costs. But the biggest barrier to decarbonizing electricity isn’t just technical, it is political will and financial support. Meeting Paris Agreement goals will require, “significant policy reforms, aggressive carbon pricing, and additional technological innovation,” according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). There is no one-size-fits-all solution for decarbonizing electricity. Countries’ strategies depend on their development level, current carbon emissions, and regionally available resources. For some, it involves replacing fossil fuels with renewables such as wind, solar, and geothermal. Others are choosing nuclear power, or more advanced technologies such as carbon capture. But for each country, meeting their goal will depend on if technology, social, and political drivers can effectively stimulate the private sector.
For example, the 16 members of the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP), a global collaboration of research teams, are split into four groups: low emissions per capita and moderate income (Brazil, Indonesia
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