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The world must take "radical action" to transition away from fossil fuels, including investing $5.7 trillion annually in solar, wind, and other types of clean electricity this decade, according to the chairman of the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Other initiatives advocated in a 348-page report on the global energy transition include enhancing energy efficiency, increasing electrification, capturing carbon emissions, and expanding hydrogen gas use.

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According to scientists, global emissions must be cut by 45% by the end of the decade when compared to 1990 levels. However, new data show that they are increasing rather than decreasing, amid a rise in energy consumption and an expansion of fossil fuel use.

“The energy transition is far from being on track and anything short of radical action in the coming years will diminish, even eliminate, chances to meet our climate goals,” said Francesco La Camera, the director-general of IRENA.

2-degree limit 

Countries agreed in Paris seven years ago to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), ideally no more than 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), to avert potentially disastrous effects on the earth.

Temperatures are now more than 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial normal, according to a recent report by a United Nations science panel, and billions of people worldwide are already susceptible to the effects of climate change.

La Camera told an energy conference in Berlin that “not only the 1.5 C, the 2 C goal is really in danger if we don’t act and don’t make a dramatic change in the way we produce and consume energy.”

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IRENA, which is based in the oil-rich Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi, stated that $700 billion in investments should be diverted away from the fossil fuel sector each year to avoid the construction of obsolete wells, pipelines, and power plants.

This demand was echoed by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who called for a stop to private sector financing for coal power, which reached new highs last year.

“Lenders need to recognize that coal and fossil fuels are futile investments that will lead to billions of dollars in stranded assets,” he said.

Energy crisis consequences 

With countries like the United States increasing domestic fossil fuel output in the face of rising energy prices and fears of supply shortages as a result of the war in Ukraine, Guterres encouraged governments not to postpone the transition away from fossil fuels.

“The current crisis shows that we must accelerate, not slow, the renewable energy transition,” he said.

“This is the only true path to energy security.” Such calls have met with mixed results.

Energy ministers from major oil producers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the secretary-general of the OPEC oil cartel, insisted this week in Dubai that fossil fuels are part of the energy transition and that hundreds of billions of dollars in oil and gas investments are still required.

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While the two Gulf countries have agreed to reduce emissions within their borders to net zero, they claim that their oil is less carbon-intensive than that derived elsewhere and have no plans to restrict output. OPEC anticipates that more oil will be required in the next decades, owing primarily to Asia's population growth.

Even Germany, which aims to be carbon neutral by 2045 and recently unveiled a slew of new policies to encourage renewable energy, continues to mine coal for energy.