World Energy Markets Observatory 2024 - 26. Edition. We are not on track to meet the Paris Agreement's objectives. What should we do?

The World Energy Markets Observatory (WEMO) is Capgemini's annual thought leadership and research report created in partnership with Hogan Lovells, Vaasa ETT and Enerdata, that tracks the transformation of global energy markets, including Europe, North America, Australia, Southeast Asia, India, and China. Now in its 26. edition, the report has been prepared by a global team of over 100 experts, and includes 15 articles, all backed with rigorous analysis. The report begins with a global outlook, then covers the topics pivotal to the energy transition including geopolitical impacts, demand side energy transition, batteries, renewables, SMRs, Hydrogen, Industrial Heat, GenAI and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The report takes stock of the current state of the energy transition. Despite progress being made, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are continuing to increase, reaching a new record high of 37.4 billion tonnes (Gt) in 2023, confirming that the path to the reach Paris Agreement's objectives is not on track. The report provides insights on what the key focus areas would need to be, moving forward, to address the complex energy transition challenges, including a change in the measurement of clean energy progress, as well as accelerated investment in the power grid and clean technologies. Despite impressive strides in 2023 and positive projections for 2024, the pace of renewable development is not fast enough. The critical role of nuclear energy to addressing increased clean energy demands is now recognized, but construction of new large power plants takes time and industrialization of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) is proving complex. Addressing the complexity of energy transition challenges will require new market mechanisms encouraging further innovation, choosing appropriate measures, and accelerated public and private investment in low carbon technologies and the power grid. In the first paragraph, we will look at the energy markets developments in the last 12 months in the present very tense geopolitical situation: the energy prices 'normalisation', the progresses in carbon free technologies implementation (nuclear electricity, intermittent renewables and their negative impact on grid balancing, storable renewables), the status of electricity consumption management, the storage solutions deployment and the green hydrogen reality. In the second paragraph, we will ask ourselves what should be done to limit the rise in global temperatures: including technology deployment at scale, well fitted regulations adoption, company and citizens contributions, financing schemes improvements and disruptive technologies (including Generative Artificial Intelligence) impacts. The last paragraph will be devoted to the energy sovereignty concerns in the current context including relationship between Western economies and countries like China and Russia and the Western policies to produce domestically critical equipment