The global energy transition is entering a new phase in which falling technology costs, supportive policies and expanding markets increasingly reinforce one another, creating positive tipping points that can accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.
Renewable electricity, battery storage and electric mobility have reached, or are approaching, thresholds at which deployment becomes increasingly self-reinforcing, while these dynamics are beginning to spread into buildings, industry, cooling and multiple application areas.
Building on UNEP’s work on Positive Tipping Points for Climate Action, and related international work on tipping dynamics, UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre is hosting a webinar bringing together leading internal experts to examine what can be learned from technologies and markets that have already tipped, and how these lessons can be applied to sectors that are “tipping-ready”.
The timing is particularly relevant following the COP31 Presidency’s announcement in Bonn of an ambition to increase the share of final energy demand met by electricity to 35% by 2035.
Organized in the wake of the Global Tipping Point Conference (12-15 October) and before the launch of this year’s Emissions Gap Report, the webinar aims to merge these two frameworks and explore the extent to which these trends and targets can help close the global emissions gap. It will also ask how governments and international partners can identify, enable and accelerate these tipping dynamics, while addressing constraints relating to grids, finance, standards, critical minerals, affordability and equitable access.
Speakers
- Tim Lenton, Founding Director of the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter
- Alex Martinos, Senior Energy Analyst, International Energy Agency (IEA)
- Martina Otto, Head of the Secretariat of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), UNEP
- Nickson Bukachi Ongeri, African Energy Commission (AFREC)
- Luis Munuera, Integrated Energy Lead, UNEP Climate Change Division
This webinar is organized by the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre with participation from the International Energy Agency (IEA), University of Exeter, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, the African Energy Commission (AFREC), and UNEP.