Reports from the IPCC and IRENA reveal an inconvenient truth: the window to avoid the worst climate impacts is closing. The answer, unanimous among scientists and economists, lies in the total decarbonization of the sector that emits the most greenhouse gases: energy.
Science has never been so categorical. The latest synthesis report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released in early 2025, serves as a final and forceful warning: global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must peak before the end of this year and be reduced by at least 43% by 2030 if the world is to have any chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Exceeding this threshold, scientists warn, would trigger a cascade of irreversible climate tipping points, with catastrophic consequences for ecosystems and human societies.
At the core of this crisis lies a brutally simple cause-and-effect relationship: our historical dependence on fossil fuels. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the energy sector — which includes electricity generation, transportation, and heating — remains the main driver of the climate crisis, accounting for more than 75% of all global GHG emissions. The burning of coal, oil, and natural gas annually releases billions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere, thickening the layer that traps the sun’s heat and overheating the planet.
In this context, the transition to clean energy is no longer a “green” alternative or a matter of corporate social responsibility. It has become the primary — and perhaps the only — viable strategy for economic and social survival in the 21st century.
The Diagnosis: A Planet on Red Alert
The 2025 data paint a worrying picture. Atmospheric CO₂ concentration has already surpassed 425 parts per million (ppm), a level never before seen in human history. The direct result is extreme weather events that have become the new normal: record heatwaves in Europe, uncontrollable wildfires in Canada, severe droughts in the Amazon, and devastating floods in Asia.
The IPCC report makes it clear that every fraction of a degree of warming matters. At current warming of around 1.2°C, the impacts are already severe. Reaching 2°C would mean, for example, the loss of more than 99% of coral reefs, a significantly higher risk of global food insecurity, and hundreds of millions of people exposed to lethal climate events.
The Solution: The Inevitable Rise of Renewables
If the diagnosis is grim, the solution is clear — and increasingly economically viable. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), in its latest report, *World Energy Transitions Outlook 2025*, provides a detailed roadmap. To meet the 1.5°C target, global renewable energy capacity must triple by 2030, reaching more than 11,000 Gigawatts (GW).
This ambitious goal is driven by an economic revolution. Clean energy costs have plummeted over the past decade, making it the cheapest source of electricity in most of the world.
- Solar Photovoltaic Energy: Solar energy costs have fallen by more than 90% since 2010. By 2025, new large-scale solar projects are being contracted at prices below US$20 per Megawatt-hour (MWh) in places such as Chile and the United Arab Emirates — far below the operating costs of coal or gas plants.
- Wind Energy: With a cost reduction of more than 70% over the same period, both onshore and offshore wind power has become the backbone of the energy transition in countries like China, the United States, and European Union nations.
- Bioenergy and Biogas: Sources such as biogas, generated from agricultural residues, stand out for their ability to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors and for their circular economy model. By capturing methane (CH₄) — a GHG 28 times more potent than CO₂ — that would otherwise be released during waste decomposition, biogas delivers a double climate benefit.
According to IRENA, global investments in energy transition technologies reached a record US$2 trillion in 2024, surpassing fossil fuel investments for the first time. However, the agency warns that this figure must double to more than US$4 trillion annually by 2030 for the transition to occur at the necessary pace.
The Implementation Challenge: Beyond Megawatts
The energy transition, however, is not just about installing more solar panels and wind turbines. It requires a complete restructuring of the global energy system. The challenges include:
- Modernizing Power Grids: Grids need to become smarter and more flexible to handle the variability of sources like solar and wind.
- Energy Storage: Massive investments in batteries and other storage technologies are crucial to ensure power availability when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.
- Decarbonizing Hard-to-Abate Sectors: Heavy industry (steel, cement), aviation, and shipping require innovative solutions such as Green Hydrogen to reach net-zero emissions.
- Just Transition: It is essential to ensure that communities currently dependent on the fossil fuel economy are not left behind, by providing workforce retraining and new economic opportunities.
The verdict of science and economics is unanimous: the path to climate stability and economic prosperity inevitably runs through clean energy. The 2020s will be remembered as the decade when humanity faced its most critical choice: continue on the unsustainable path of greenhouse gas emissions or embrace the energy transition as the greatest opportunity for innovation and development of the century. The window of time to make that choice is closing rapidly.
