BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec.3. Increasing frequency of extreme weather events, such as droughts, heatwaves and hurricanes, will have an adverse impact on countries’ energy systems, Trend reports Dec.3 with reference to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
“Dry weather in much of the northern hemisphere in 2022 led to drought situations in major river systems such as the Yangtze (China), the Danube and the Rhine (Europe), and the Colorado River (US), severely impacting hydro power generation, which provides almost half of low-carbon electricity generation globally. Heatwaves could lead to blackouts as they push up peak power demand, while diminishing productivity of power plants; hurricanes could damage energy infrastructure,” reads the latest report released by EIU.
With meteorologists forecasting more weather events—including a rare third consecutive year of La Niña—EIU expects more short-term power crises around the world in 2023.
“Countries will keep falling back on fossil fuels to cope with such scenarios. China and India, where hydro power accounts for more than 10% of total electricity generation, are most likely to do so. Another example is Brazil, which relies on hydro power for 60% of total power generation.
A volatile economic and geopolitical environment, plus recent extreme weather events in Europe and the US, are likely to shift public sentiment in those countries towards channelling climate adaptation funds for domestic needs before committing to assist other countries. This will affect availability of global climate finance. Developing countries, such as India and Indonesia, will struggle to secure meaningful commitments from the rich world to finance their energy transition. Consequently, these countries will be slower to wean themselves off dirty fuels such as coal, and the divergence in energy transition between the developed and the developing world will widen,” the report says.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn