The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) called countries worldwide to boost clean energy development under international cooperation in order to achieve lower emission as pledged in the Copenhagen Accord, according to a news release issued by the organization on Monday.
The IEA indicated that "the world is currently not on track with the ambitious target to limit global temperature increases at 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial level" as agreed last year, the organization said.
Recognizing positive steps in the Copenhagen summit, Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the IEA, added "the question we are addressing now is how to effectively mobilize the whole energy sector to abate emissions globally." According to IEA data, global energy-related CO2 emissions stood at 40 percent above 1990 levels in 2008, followed by a global pause in 2009 due to the economic recession, but robust growth in emerging economies still elevate energy demand along with high emission.
The organization predicted in its World Energy Outlook (WEO) published last month that global emissions "would rise by 21 percent above 2008 levels by 2035, a trend that would commit the world to a 3.5 degrees Celsius warming."
The WEO report also pointed out an end to the age of cheap energy and clear signs of an ongoing energy transition.
Any further delay action will cost more to reverse the deterioration trend of climate change, Tanaka argued in the news release, calling countries to follow best policy practice and guidelines leading to "cost-effective and sustainable emission reduction path."
International coordination aiming at more ambitious goals as well as sustained domestic policy efforts should both be taken into account for energy security and economic welfare of developed and developing countries, Tanaka underlined.