At a time when the world is watching the US with great apprehension over its policies on power and renewed push for fossil fuel, instead of renewables, a new report by the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) says the lowering cost of renewables will certainly will energise the sector.

The report stressed that halving global emissions by 2040 is an achievable target but “fossil fuels use must fall 30 per cent by 2040, with rapid decline of unabated coal.”

The report released on Tuesday predicts that adequately strong policy measures that promote renewables has the potential to help build power systems that would rely on renewable sources for 80-90 per cent of supply at prices that are competitive with fossil fuels within 15 years.

“To put the world on a well below 2˚C pathway, we must decarbonise power generation and extend electrification to a wider set of activities in the transport and buildings sectors. Clean electrification alone could deliver half of the carbon emissions reductions required to reach 20 gigatonnes (Gt) of emissions by 2040,” sharing the finding of the report Rachel Kyte, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for SE4All, ETC.

However, the report admits that we are not yet in a position to simply wish away coal, which would, it estimates still account for 50 per cent of the final energy demand by 2040 despite an approximate 30 per cent decrease in fossil fuel use in general.

“Meeting climate objectives therefore also requires a ramp-up in all forms of carbon capture and sequestration (conversion into products, underground storage, natural carbon sinks). In this context, fossil fuels use should be concentrated in highest value applications, which implies a rapid decrease in unabated coal consumption, a peak of oil in the 2020s and a continued role for gas provided methane leakages are reduced significantly,” the report says.

Even as the world pats its back on getting the Paris agreement on climate change through, the ETC report warns that a transition to a low-carbon economy, as needed, would require much more than what the countries have promised under the agreement. Incidentally, there is no penalty on countries for failing to fulfil them.

“Each year, energy productivity needs to increase by three per cent and the share of energy from zero-carbon sources needs to rise at least one percentage point,” the report says, giving a scope of the change that is required.