BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 26. The World Bank (WB) views decarbonization of transport in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) by 2060 as the major challenge for achieving carbon neutrality, Trend reports via the WB's "Net Zero Energy by 2060: Charting Europe and Central Asia's (ECA) Journey Toward Sustainable Energy Futures" report.
"In the Net Zero Energy by 2060 scenario, a bold but realistic path to decarbonizing ECA's energy system with minimal costs is proposed, aiming to keep global temperature rise below 2°C. Modeling results indicate that the most challenging task is the decarbonization of transport and industry," noted the document.
WB experts said that even by 2060, the transport and partly the industrial sectors are unlikely to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions, requiring the use of carbon dioxide removal technologies for these industries' decarbonization.
The WB mentioned that oil consumption in ECA could reach its peak by 2035
"It's positive that in the transport sector, oil consumption decreases from 90 percent of the transport fuel structure in 2019 to nine percent by 2060 (according to WB forecasts). However, in segments such as aviation, road freight transport, and maritime transport, oil dependence persists, as reducing emissions in these segments is more challenging even with the active use of environmentally friendly transport technologies (biofuels, hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, synthetic fuels, and electric vehicles)," emphasized the publication.
WB experts also noted that in ECA countries (a group of 23 countries, including Azerbaijan), there should be more certainty in the next 10-15 years regarding the use of 'low-carbon hydrogen' (mainly 'green' hydrogen) in the transport system, requiring the development of technologies that are currently less cost-competitive and have not reached maturity.
Depending on the level of development of end-use markets, especially transport, by 2060, clean hydrogen could make up 10-13 percent of final consumption in ECA countries, but without a significant increase in carbon emission tariffs and government support, low-carbon hydrogen production in the ECA region is likely to remain unprofitable for at least another 20 years, the document added.
The bank recommends ECA countries to develop the electric vehicle segment.
To note, the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan is consulting with leading global experts on expanding the use of electric vehicles in the country and the production of 'green' hydrogen.