13 December 2024

Powering the Future: Latin America’s Geopolitical Role in the Global Energy Transition

Axel Bastián Poque González

The evidence from recent years leaves no doubt: anthropogenic climate change is accelerating, with its impacts becoming increasingly severe, frequent, and hazardous. These include extreme weather events, rising global temperatures, sea level rise, biodiversity loss, threats to agricultural productivity and food security, health risks, water scarcity, and escalating economic losses. These interconnected challenges are not only harming ecosystems but also undermining societal stability and economic resilience. According to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), without substantial and immediate mitigation efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, these impacts will intensify, potentially reaching irreversible tipping points. The need for urgent global action to limit warming levels has never been more critical (IPCC 2022; 2023). August 2024 represents the fourteenth consecutive month in which global temperatures exceeded the pre-industrial baseline’s monthly average (1850–1900) by at least 1.5 °C, reinforcing the warming trend’s persistence (Rohde 2024).

The energy transition is pivotal for decarbonising the global economy and addressing the pressing challenges of climate change. Recent progress in renewable energy deployment has been encouraging. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA 2024c), wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies are jointly projected to exceed hydropower in electricity generation by 2024. Furthermore, overall renewables are projected to surpass coal power generation by 2025, marking a pivotal shift in the global energy landscape. Notwithstanding these encouraging indications, ensuring the continuity and acceleration of the energy transition is imperative to safeguard a sustainable future. Continued efforts must be made to enhance the deployment of renewable technologies in order to reduce carbon emissions and ensure the establishment of reliable and resilient energy systems on a global scale.

No comments: