- Category: Politics
26 Feb 2013
- Published on Tuesday, 26 February 2013 09:16
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A new report found that Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation member countries, even under business-as-usual scenarios, are likely to meet their 45 percent energy efficiency target by 2035.
Commissioned by the Asia Pacific Energy Research Center and A.P.E.C. Energy Working Group, the report assessed energy demand and supply, as well as greenhouse gas emissions in the region.
“A.P.E.C.’s energy efficiency surge over the last three decades is expected to continue at a modestly accelerated rate and could result in an improvement of about 53 percent by 2035,” said Dr. Phyllis Genther Yoshida, Lead Shepherd of the A.P.E.C. Energy Working Group.
She noted that this trend is driven by the adoption of new technologies in the sector and more robust energy policies being implemented by A.P.E.C. economies.
During a conference in 2011 at Honululu, Hawaii, A.P.E.C. leaders agreed to set an energy intensity reduction target of at least 45 percent by 2035.
A.P.E.C. member economies are said to account for around 60 percent of the world energy demand.
Primary energy across A.P.E.C. is expected to increase by just about 53 percent during the same period. Without cutting energy intensity, energy demand would grow at the same rate similar to its gross domestic product, which is forecasted to skyrocket by roughly 225 percent by 2035.
The report noted that improvements in energy intensity is significantly higher than the past trends, up from 1.4 percent annual rate between 1990 to 2009, to 2.5 percent annually between 2005 to 2035.
However, the report also warned that more work has to be done in order to ensure environmental sustainability of the energy sector in the region, with over 80 percent of A.P.E.C.’s primary energy demand in 2035 still projected to be met by fossil fuels.
The region’s rising energy demand could subsequently result in a 46 percent increase in carbon emissions from burning fuel.
To address sustainability concerns, the report suggested that A.P.E.C. economies to further work together to promote climate change awareness, boost energy efficiency, support research and development on clean technologies and implement necessary regulations such as carbon pricing or emissions trading.
The report noted that renewable energy is increasingly becoming “mainstream” especially in electricity generation. This is driven by two key forces including growing response of A.P.E.C. countries to climate change challenges with policies in place to promote renewable energy development, and technological improvement that continues to be cost-effective and enhance the performance of renewable energy. – C. Dominguez