Clean-energy progress not enough to slow global warming

Guardian : According to a new report from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), the current rate of clean-energy development is too slow to limit global warming. In particular, it is looking increasingly unlikely that global temperature rise will be kept to less than 2 °C over the next century. So far, global investment in clean energy in 2013 has been at its lowest since 2009. Coal power generation increased 45% between 2000 and 2010, while clean power generation increased only 25%. However, those increases weren’t evenly distributed across the globe. Europe is using more coal, while the US is turning more toward natural gas. According to the IEA, the lack of commercial-scale systems for carbon capture and storage (CCS) is one of the most significant failures of investment. Only 13 large-scale demonstration units are operational or under construction. Those systems will provide just one-quarter of the storage capacity needed by 2020. The goal of having CCS systems on at least 63% of coal plants by 2050 seems completely out of reach. Although the IEA also pointed out the lack of growth in the nuclear industry, it highlighted significant progress in wind and solar technologies.