PARIS, France—Rich and developing nations alike must sharply improve their net-zero targets, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday, warning that a clean energy surge was the main reason the world’s climate goals are still within reach.
Wealthy countries must now reach carbon neutrality in around 2045, five years early, and China should speed up by a decade to 2050 to keep to the Paris goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the IEA said.
“The world has already delayed too long to avoid hard choices,” the global energy watchdog said.
The report, which comes ahead of crunch UN climate talks, updates the IEA’s landmark 2021 “Net Zero Roadmap”, which said new fossil fuel development was incompatible with global decarbonization by mid-century and the 1.5C target.