The carbon intensity of the world’s energy production systems is getting lower, but not low enough, the International Energy Agency said Friday. In order to reach the climate goal of limiting global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, the average carbon intensity of the world’s energy systems needs to be 100 kilograms of CO2 per megawatt-hour by the late 2030s.
“Taken altogether, the current average intensity of power generation today is just over 500 kg of CO2 per megawatt-hour. In 2015 the average intensity of new power generation coming online was 420 – signaling an improvement of the average. Yet this is still far from where we need to be to reach our climate goals,” an IEA release says.
Put on a spectrum, the carbon intensity of energy generation systems ranges from about 975 kg of CO2 per megawatt-hour for subcritical coal-fired power plants to 0 kg of CO2 per megawatt-hour for wind and solar generation. “More modern, highly efficient coal-fired power plants have an intensity of around 800. A natural gas turbine can reach about 350, while a coal plant equipped with carbon capture – such as the innovative Boundary Dam CCS project in Canada – can release less than 130 kg of CO2 per megawatt-hour,” the release says.