The International Energy Agency (IEA) an inter-governmental organisation has called on countries worldwide to step up efforts to implement clean energy solutions.
IEA acts as energy policy advisor to some 28- member countries in their effort to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for their citizens.
Mr Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the IEA speaking at a media interaction at the on-going 16 Conference of Parties (COP 16) in Cancun, Mexico said, "Despite the positive steps taken last year in Copenhagen, we
must achieve a lower emission path".
He said the world was currently not on track with the ambitious target
to limit global temperature increases at two degrees Celsius above
pre-industrial level which was a key objective in the Copenhagen Accord.
"The various pledges of developed and developing countries taken in Copenhagen mean that climate mitigation is no longer a taboo between developed and developing countries.
"The question we are addressing now is how to effectively mobilise the whole energy sector to abate emissions globally," he said.
Mr Tanaka revealed that the global energy-related CO2 emissions stood at 40 per cent above 1990 levels in 2008, according to IEA data.
While 2009 witnessed a pause in the worldwide increase of CO2 emissions, he said vibrant economic growth in emerging economies was still driving more energy demand and with it, higher CO2 emissions.
The IEA projections from the World Energy Outlook 2010 released last month are unequivocal about the gap between the Copenhagen Accord's
environmental goals and pledges submitted to date: emissions would rise by 21 per cent above 2008 levels by 2035, a trend that would commit the world to a 3.5 degree Celsius warming.
Mr said: "The 450 Scenario estimates what it would take to bring the world back on track to limit the temperature increase to two degree Celsius: an ambitious mix of energy efficiency, a rapidly rising price on CO2 emissions, sustained support to renewable energies and carbon capture and storage."
"Every year passing makes reaching the goal more expensive and therefore less likely. The investment bill to decarbonise the global energy
mix has risen by $ 1 trillion since last year's IEA estimate, for an identical environmental goal. We simply cannot afford to delay action any
longer."
He reiterated IEA contributions as part of efforts to attain a low-carbon energy future, identifying best policy practice and guidelines
that countries could follow to achieve a cost-effective and sustainable emission reduction path.
Mr Tanka said: "International co-ordination, the objective of the Cancun negotiation, was necessary to drive more ambitious goals so as to
sustain domestic policy efforts to integrate climate objectives with the other energy policy priorities of economic welfare and energy security.
"The IEA is monitoring "these bottom-up efforts to integrate climate goals in energy policy-making, to identify best practice, and provide that knowledge to countries that want to move forward.
"Whether we look at energy resources or at technologies needed to combat climate change, it is safe to say that the age of cheap energy is
over. We must work at all levels, in all countries and with all technologies
to find the solutions we will need to transform our energy sector and bring lasting global emissions reductions," he said.
Around the world, developed and developing countries are multiplying efforts to foster energy efficiency, the use of renewable and other low-CO2 emitting sources, and to put a price-tag on CO2 emissions.
These are signs that an energy transition is underway, even if these longer-term but pressing energy and environmental concerns have to fight their way into policy-makers' agenda in this period of economic downturn.
From Albert Oppong Ansah, GNA Special Correspondent, Cancun, Mexico (Courtesy: British Council Ghana/Ministry of Environment Science and
Technology/World Bank)