Human-induced global warming has reached approximately 1.2 degrees above pre-industrial levels and with current policies warming will hit around 2.8°C by the end of the century.
2022 was the year of sustained droughts resulting in widespread wildfires, declines in food production and heatwaves from the United States and Africa to China and Europe. Glaciers are melting in the Andes and the Himalayas, taking with them the source of drinking and irrigation water for thousands of people. And in the Arctic, sea ice is melting much faster than scientists predicted. Climate change is an immediate, not a future, crisis.
Paradoxically, as a group of leading climate scientists including Kathrine Richardson, professor in Biological Oceanography and leader of Sustainability Science Centre at Copenhagen University, pointed out in June 2022, the political responses to the crisis have so far been centred around long-term climate goals and, to a lesser extent, immediate action.
We need to close the gap between promises and action. The good news is that we have the solutions at hand and we don’t need to wait. In fact, most of the global reductions in carbon emissions through 2030 needed for the ‘Net Zero by 2050 Scenario’ developed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) come from technologies readily available today.
We are seeing a massive buildout of renewable energy to tackle the supply side of the green equation. This is indeed necessary, and we need even more. But if we don’t, at the same time, pay attention to the demand side of the green equation (the acceleration in energy consumption) the build-out of renewables won’t be even near sufficient.
As the IEA has pointed out, energy efficiency can take us one-third of the way to net zero. Energy efficiency simply means using less energy to perform the same task – that is, eliminating energy waste. In this paper, we explore why energy efficiency plays such a significant, yet politically overlooked, role in the battle against climate change.
By using our energy smarter and electrifying everything across industry, transport and buildings, we can curb emissions now, make our economies more resilient and create millions of green jobs. The greenest, safest and cheapest energy is the energy we don’t use. Let’s get started.
Article extracted from Danfoss’ latest White Paper by Kim Fausing, Danfoss chief executive officer.