US facing pressing challenges in meeting climate goals

Sacramento, Sep 27 (IANS) The US is facing pressing challenges in meeting its climate goals due to a slowing pace of greenhouse gas emission reductions, according to a new report.

The administration of US President Joe Biden set goals of reaching 100 per cent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.

However, the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), a company that provides research and analysis on the energy sector, revealed a concerning outlook for the current trajectory in its New Energy Outlook for the US report on Wednesday.

"With time running out, the US needs to reduce emissions sharply and across all sectors if it's to be a credible actor in the global push to net zero," the report said, calling for "stronger mandates and harder pushes."

To meet these targets, emissions from the power industry must plummet dramatically, falling to 26 per cent of 2023 levels by 2030. Even with this steep decline, projections showed the US would only reach 82 per cent carbon-free generation by 2035, falling short of the government's goal.

More worryingly, the report indicated that emission cuts by the US power sector are expected to slow after 2032, posing a major challenge to the country's climate ambitions.

While US energy-related emissions have been declining since peaking in 2007, with an average annual reduction rate of 1.8 per cent, the BNEF report predicted this pace would slow to 1.6 per cent per year until 2050. Under this scenario, only 40 per cent of current emissions would be cut by 2050, far below the net-zero target.

The power industry, despite being the fastest to decarbonise among all sectors in the US energy economy, must "go above and beyond to allow slower-moving sectors room to shift," said the report.

This task was complicated by the increasing plans to build new gas-fired plants, driven by surging demand from data centres, manufacturing, and electrification, the report noted.

California, often considered a leader in clean energy deployment in the nation, also faced its own challenges. The state aimed to achieve net zero emissions by 2045, relying heavily on solar and wind power.

However, fully decarbonising California's grid would require more firm clean power sources, including advanced geothermal and natural gas with carbon capture, Edison International's Chief Executive Officer Pedro Pizarro told Reuters on Wednesday.Though the state is the largest market for solar energy in the US, Pizarro said using solar and wind alone wouldn't provide enough around-the-clock power or be logistically realistic.The state grappled with additional obstacles in deploying clean fuels like renewable natural gas and hydrogen, as well as implementing effective carbon management strategies.These areas lacked long-term infrastructure plans, despite their critical role in decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors and in providing resiliency and reliability to the energy sector, according to a July study by Boston Consulting Group.Lengthy and complex permitting processes also presented a challenge and are hampering the timely deployment of all forms of clean energy and grid infrastructure, the study said.