Scaling Technologies to Decarbonize Energy

The report argues that current energy trends are insufficient to limit global temperature rise to two degrees Celsius, necessitating the rapid deployment of both market-ready and emerging technologies. It categorizes 15 high-potential solutions into short-term (0-5 years) and medium-term (5-15 years) horizons, while outlining six categories of enablers—including carbon pricing, public-private partnerships, and smarter infrastructure—required to overcome capital intensity and innovation lags.

• The global energy sector is a primary driver of climate change, with energy consumption and production accounting for approximately two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions.
• Existing energy infrastructure creates a significant barrier to rapid decarbonization because it is capital intensive and long-lived; the International Energy Agency suggests that 80% of allowable emissions up to 2030 are already determined by current capital stock.
• Despite growth in solar and wind, renewables (excluding nuclear and hydropower) provided only about 6% of global electricity and 3% of total world energy needs in 2014.
• The report identifies seven short-term technologies (0-5 years) for accelerated deployment: Solar-PV, Wind power, Third generation nuclear energy, Ultra-supercritical steam cycle coal with CCS readiness, and energy efficiency in buildings, transportation, and industry processes.
• The report identifies eight medium-term technologies (5-15 years) with significant potential: Advanced power storage, Carbon scrubbing (CCS and CCU), Advanced nuclear reactors, Next generation power electronics, Next generation biofuels, Hydrogen technology, Advanced geothermal, and Ocean energy.
• A strong, universal carbon price is considered a critical enabler to internalize climate impacts in investment decisions and prevent 'carbon leakage' where industries move to regions with no price signal.
• Public-private partnerships are essential for immature technologies like CCS and advanced nuclear, as private companies often lack the incentive or capacity to fund pilot projects and assume the legal liabilities of large-scale testing.
• Ultra-supercritical steam cycle (USCSC) technology can increase the average efficiency of coal-fired power from 35% to approximately 45%, serving as a transition for countries heavily reliant on coal if plants are built to be 'CCS-ready'.
• Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems, combined with other efficiency technologies, have the potential to reduce building energy consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 80%.
• Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) is identified as the only technology capable of decarbonizing the 1.8 terawatts of existing coal units and those currently under construction.

APA

Boqiang, L., Broad, M., Burke, S., Catelin, M., Cohen, A., Josefsson, L., King, J., Zheng, L., Masuda, T., Mateo, R., Mehta, V., Nesheiwat, J., Parikh, J., Piebalgs, A., Salman, W., Sauvage, E., Schmitt, J., Schucht, B., Dongxiao, Z., & Mehlum, E. (2015). Scaling Technologies to Decarbonize Energy. World Economic Forum. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GAC_Decarbonizing_Energy_White_Paper.pdf

Chicago

Boqiang, Lin, Martha Broad, Sharon Burke, Milton Catelin, Armond Cohen, Lars Josefsson, Julia King, et al. Scaling Technologies to Decarbonize Energy. World Economic Forum, 2015. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GAC_Decarbonizing_Energy_White_Paper.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Boqiang |first1=Lin |last2=Broad |first2=Martha |last3=Burke |first3=Sharon |last4=Catelin |first4=Milton |last5=Cohen |first5=Armond |last6=Josefsson |first6=Lars |last7=King |first7=Julia |last8=Zheng |first8=Li |last9=Masuda |first9=Tatsuo |display-authors=etal |title=Scaling Technologies to Decarbonize Energy |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=October 2015 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GAC_Decarbonizing_Energy_White_Paper.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{boqiang2015scaling, author = {Boqiang, Lin and Broad, Martha and Burke, Sharon and Catelin, Milton and Cohen, Armond and Josefsson, Lars and King, Julia and Zheng, Li and Masuda, Tatsuo and Mateo, Rafael and Mehta, Vikram and Nesheiwat, Julia and Parikh, Jyoti and Piebalgs, Andris and Salman, Waleed and Sauvage, Edouard and Schmitt, Jerome and Schucht, Boris and Dongxiao, Zhang and Mehlum, Espen}, title = {{Scaling Technologies to Decarbonize Energy}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2015}, month = oct, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GAC_Decarbonizing_Energy_White_Paper.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }