By Duncan Mboyah
A
report warns that the planet can only be cooled by a decisive cut in the use of coal, natural gas, crude oil, and petroleum products.
The report ‘Imperative of Cutting Methane from Fossil Fuels’ says cutting the use of Methane must go hand in hand with removing or reducing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the latest efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. The 16-page report warns that “without targeted action on methane, even with deep reductions in fossil fuel use, the global average surface temperature increase will likely exceed 1.6 °C by 2050.” Unep, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and the International Energy Agency published the new report.
This came even as the World Meteorological Organization revealed that September was the hottest on record. WMO said the month broke the record as an extended streak of extraordinary land and sea-surface temperatures, an ominous signal about the speed with which greenhouse gases are changing our climate.
“The year 2023 is now on track to be the warmest year on record, with June, July, August and September all breaking monthly temperature records.”
UNEP, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and the International Energy Agency Report
The new report says more than 75 per cent of methane emissions from oil and gas operations and half of emissions from coal today can be abated with existing technology, often at low cost.
“The oil and gas sector has the greatest share of ready-to-implement and cost-effective technical opportunities to reduce methane emissions. Cuts in methane emissions from fossil fuel operations will likely need to provide half of the reduction in total methane emissions from human activities needed to 2030 to limit warming to 1.5 °C”
UNEP, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and the International Energy Agency Report
According to the report, achieving net zero emissions will require a significant reduction in fossil fuel use. This means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to close to zero. The report calls for halting new conventional long-lead-time oil and gas projects approved for development after 2023 if net zero is to be achieved by 2050.
The report was released when countries adopted renewable energy to cool the warming planet. Kenya has already embraced several electric vehicles as part of the plan. According to the report, the country has enormous renewable resource potential.
The Global Wind Energy Council produced “The Status of Wind in Africa” report to assess wind energy’s footprint, its current role, and its bright future prospects across the Continent.
The Status of Wind in Africa report highlights 83 installed wind farms across Africa that provide gigawatt (GW) clean electricity. These wind farms are primarily located in Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa (the main markets) and Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tunisia (the secondary markets).
The report shows a steady increase in the installed capacity of wind power in Africa since 2000. This growth has seen annual installations of 800 MW and above during 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022. 2014 represented the highest installation at 1132 MW.
It shows that South Africa is the leading country in installed capacity, followed by Morocco and Egypt. Ethiopia and Kenya are the top five countries in terms of installed capacity. According to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Agency, Kenya has favourable wind speeds. 73 per cent of the country experiences wind speeds of 6 m/s or higher at a hundred meters above ground level.
The new report says 140 projects are planned across Africa, a move likely to increase capacity by more than 900 per cent and provide another 86 Gigawatt (GW) of installed capacity soon.
The report shows that developing the wind energy sector in Africa presents opportunities to impart socioeconomic benefits to households, communities, and countries. These benefits include employment opportunities leading up to and during the roughly 25-year lifetime of a utility-scale wind asset, clean power for households and industrial consumers, and direct (foreign and local) investments, including supply chain facilities. The report says the 310MW Lake Turkana project in Kenya, Africa’s largest wind farm to date, employed 2,500 during construction and employs 329 people for operations.