A new energy roadmap by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) has suggested a global ban on selling boilers reliant of fossil fuels by 2025.
Its report ‘Net Zero by 2050: A roadmap for the global energy system’ proposed this week that governments needed to establish policies for coal and oil boilers and furnaces for space and water heating to no longer be available for sale from 2025.
As part of this, they also needed to take action to ensure that new gas boilers are able to operate with low‐carbon gases, such as being hydrogen ready, in decarbonised gas networks, it said, together with appliances such as heat pumps.
A statement by the IEA said climate pledges by governments to date – even if fully achieved – “would fall well short of what is required to bring global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to net zero by 2050”.
Its pathway also called for annual additions of solar PV to reach 630 gigawatts by 2030, and those of wind power to reach 390 gigawatts. Together, this is four times the record level set in 2020.
“Our roadmap shows the priority actions that are needed today to ensure the opportunity of net-zero emissions by 2050 – narrow but still achievable – is not lost. The scale and speed of the efforts demanded by this critical and formidable goal – our best chance of tackling climate change and limiting global warming to 1.5 °C – make this perhaps the greatest challenge humankind has ever faced,” added Fatih Birol, the IEA executive director.