This might sound like a line from our recent Game Changers report, which points out that electrification is Europe’s best solution to tackle climate change while bolstering its energy security.
Only it’s not.
It’s a headline from an article in the latest edition of The Economist which highlights that with renewables getting cheaper all the time, there is a growing opportunity to electrify all the processes – such as powering our vehicles or heating our homes or steel mills – that used to rely on fossil fuels.
“[Electrification] does not deliver everything that is needed,” the article by The Economist’s Global Energy and Climate Innovation Editor, Vijay Vaitheeswaran, states. “But it delivers a lot.”
Our Game Changers report, launched at Power Summit 2022 last month, reveals that electrification will tackle emissions and enhance energy security and efficiency. It will also critically contribute to a healthier society; air pollution continues to drive a significant public health burden in the EU linked to 350,000 premature deaths every year.
Electrification is crucial to reaching net zero by 2050 and creating a more liveable world, while electric heating solutions save energy, reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and lower energy bills for consumers.
When it comes to transport, meanwhile, battery electric vehicles are more efficient, can travel three to four times the distance using the same amount of energy, and improve air quality.
“Electrify everything that can be electrified” was the second of five game-changing solutions we listed for policymakers in our Policy Actions and Recommendations. We are calling on them to:
- Fast-forward the stagnating electrification rates in end-use sectors and unleash the benefits of an electric future, powered by clean and renewable energies.
- Incentivise solutions for the conversion of clean electricity into hydrogen and other energy vectors, for cases where direct electrification is not possible.
- Address the supply chain bottlenecks and access to raw materials that are slowing down projects’ deployment and a faster electrification of transport.
- Unlock the benefits of demand-side flexibility, by bolstering the deployment of heat pumps, electrolysers, smart charging infrastructure and storage solutions, which enable the smart management of the decarbonised energy system.