Boost in solar energy and electric vehicle sales gives hope for climate goals: Report

abcnews.go.com:

Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) is becoming harder but a narrow window remains because clean energy infrastructure has grown around the world, a new report said Tuesday

The window to limit human-caused warming to a globally agreed goal is narrowing but still open because of the huge growth of solar energy and electric vehicles sales worldwide, a report said Tuesday.

For the last two years, the rate of the build up of solar energy and electric vehicle sales were in line with achieving emissions reductions targets that will help cap warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, the Paris-based International Energy Agency said.

But renewable power needs to triple by 2030, the sale of EVs needs to rise much more sharply — 70% of all vehicle sales as opposed to the current 13% — and methane emissions from the energy sector needs to fall by 75% if global warming is to be curbed to the the Paris Agreement goal. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is up to 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term.

Investments in climate action also need to rise, from $1.8 trillion in 2023 to $4.5 trillion annually by the early 2030s, the report said.

“Global climate continues to change at a frightening speed,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA at an online press event, but “there are legitimate reasons to be hopeful. The spectacular increase in clean energy is keeping the door still open.”

The report found that solar power capacity increased nearly 50% in the last two years and electric car sales increased by 240%.

But carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector — which includes the production of coal, oil and gas — remain