Photo: Fred Tanneau Agence France-Presse
The Organization of economic cooperation and development, lamented that the direct and indirect support to fossil fuel production was up 38% in 2019 from 44 advanced and emerging economies.
They are numerous, large institutions, to be seen in this pandemic, the chance of an economic recovery green, based on an energy transition in fast motion : the key central bankers (except the u.s. federal Reserve board), IMF, OECD, UN,…
Yet on Wednesday, we are reminded that the next united Nations Conference on trade and development, to be held in April, was looking to rebuild on a better foundation failed economies.
“The COVID-19 has been a litmus test for the economy globalized and interdependent, and the verdict is clear. The pandemic and its aftermath have exposed the existential challenges thrown down to the very principles of globalization, and will have a lasting impact on the future efforts of developing countries to leverage the globalised economy “, stressed the secretary-general of UNCTAD. And Mukhisa Kituyi of chaining : “A better recovery must be green, resilient, just and digital — but it must also be for all peoples and all countries, and not only for those who can afford it “, one reads in a text of Agence France-Presse.
We see in these quotations at the time the necessary action before the damage caused by the pandemic on the local economies, supply chains, and in front of the failures of globalization, and the urgency just as the immediate response to the climate challenge. However, if many studies have come to confirm the match between these two great imperatives, or even to demonstrate the economic benefits of the energy transition for the décarbonation, the consultation is still lacking. It is, moreover, the observation of the failure of all these international Conferences on climate change that have been going on since at least 1972.
Since June, the data published does not cease to illustrate this lack of engagement. An analysis of the website Carbon Brief looked forward to see that the world’s capacity of production of electricity by coal-fired power plants had declined in the first half of 2020 within the scope of the pandemic, but also the strengthening of the restrictions. But to see that the development of new thermal power plants is mainly concentrated in China, while withdrawals are mainly in Europe. Taking the figures of the Global Coal Plant Tracker, 189,8 gigawatts of production capacity are still under construction, and 331,9 other gigawatts more are planned, ” adds the study, suspecting China to increase coal production in order to boost its economy.
In June, the international Agency for renewable energy was the demonstration that a stimulus post-COVID-19 focus on the transition, the energy efficiency and renewable energy do not preclude the emergency of an economic recovery in the immediate aftermath. The time is especially propitious that the technological innovations, economies of scale, better know-how and financing costs relatively low have made the production of renewable energy competitive, underscored in the report of some 150 pages.
A surge that has come to temper the expert network REN21. “The renewable energies have certainly made a place in the electricity sector (with a share of 26 %), but is still marginal in the production of heat and cold (10 %) and, even more, in transport (3 %),” he wrote in June.
Jean-Marie Dauger, chairman of the world energy Council, recalled the existence of a” paradox “. “If the oil companies have any interest in getting involved in the décarbonation, including their own customs […], at the same time, with all the scenarios that one can make, the oil, and the hydrocarbons in general, still covers nearly two-thirds of the needs by the year 2040, or even 2050. “At the same time, the Organization of economic cooperation and development, lamented that the direct and indirect support to fossil fuel production was up 38 % in 2019 from 44 advanced and emerging economies.
Still a lot of contradictions.
If the oil companies have any interest in getting involved in the décarbonation, including their own customs […], at the same time, with all the scenarios that one can make, the oil, and the hydrocarbons in general, still covers nearly two-thirds of the needs by the year 2040, or even 2050
— Jean-Marie Dauger
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