environment
UN report: climate change threatens energy security
drought in Germany. photo
© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa
Electricity production requires a lot of water, but water scarcity is increasing with climate change. The World Weather Organization warns that production must be switched much more radically to wind and solar.
According to the World Weather Organization (WMO), climate change is threatening energy production worldwide. Heat waves and drought, for example, cause water levels that are needed for hydroelectric power or to cool nuclear power plants to drop, as the WMO warned in Geneva. In addition, storms and other extreme weather conditions endanger the infrastructure in many places.
The energy sector is responsible for three quarters of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change. It is therefore essential to radically change production. But governments are doing too little, said WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas. They failed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees as intended if electricity production from clean sources was not doubled in the next eight years.
The water is getting scarcer
Already today, 15 percent of the world’s nuclear power plants are located in regions where water is becoming scarcer. The proportion will probably increase to 25 percent in the next 20 years. Also, 33 percent of thermal power plants that require cooling water and 11 percent of hydroelectric capacity are in water-stressed areas. A good quarter of the existing dams for hydroelectric power plants and almost a quarter of the planned plants are on rivers with a medium to high risk of water shortage.
In order to achieve the 1.5 degree target, the world community is actually aiming to cause only as many carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 as can be offset (net zero emissions). But not enough is being done, warns the WMO. According to current plans, only 30 percent of the emission reductions required to achieve the target by 2030 would be achieved.
Electricity from renewable energies
In fact, by 2050 the demand for electricity will have to be largely covered by renewable energies, especially solar energy, writes the WMO. This also reduces the stress caused by growing water scarcity, because electricity from solar and wind energy requires significantly less water than electricity from plants that are operated with fossil fuels or from nuclear power plants.
Africa has great potential for solar energy. However, the investments there are far too low. Funding to help countries transition to clean energy has declined since 2018, from $14.2 billion to $10.9 billion a year later. In order to be able to supply clean energy everywhere in Africa, annual investments of 25 billion dollars are necessary.