- Muslim women break taboos navigating east London's waterways
- Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom
- More than 60 dead from storm Helene as rescue, cleanup efforts grow
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Storm Helene's toll rises as rescue and cleanup efforts gain pace
- SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Boeing strike grinds on as latest talks fail to reach agreement
- Iran 'news' sites, hackers target Trump ahead of US election
- US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike
- Japan's speedy, spotless Shinkansen bullet trains turn 60
- US hurricane deaths rise to 44, fears of more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Global stocks mostly rise, cheering Beijing stimulus
- Europe en route for Moon with new simulator, says astronaut Pesquet
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- Argentina judge orders dictionary to delete pejorative definition of 'Jewish'
- Global stocks rise on rate hopes, Beijing stimulus
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- Chinese stocks extend surge, Europe higher on Beijing stimulus
- Pope says Church must 'seek forgiveness' for child sexual abuse
- China caps week of 'bazooka' stimulus for ailing economy with rate cut
- Cuts, cash, credit: China bids to jumpstart flagging economy
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- Return to sender: waste stranded at sea stirs toxic dispute
- 'Broken' news industry faces uncertain future
- On remote Greek island, migratory birds offer climate clues
- Taken from mother by nuns, victim seeks answers as pope visits Belgium
- China cuts amount banks hold in reserve to boost lending
- Hong Kong, Shanghai extend surge as China optimism boosts markets
- Vietnam president reiterates support for Cuba during official visit
- Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report
- Stay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate's grim choice
- Florida bracing for 'unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene
- Poverty rises to over 52 percent in Milei's Argentina
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala Harris
- Champagne houses abuzz over English sparkling wine
- Macron, Trudeau pledge to work for 'decarbonized' economies
- Hurricanes, storms, typhoons... Is September wetter than usual?
- China stimulus, tech optimism boost stock markets
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- Macron meets Trudeau in Canada as both face political setbacks
- South Korea surges in UN innovation index
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- Floods threaten Niger's historic 'gateway to the desert'
World enters 'new age' of clean energy manufacturing: IEA
The world is at the "dawn of a new industrial age" of clean energy technology manufacturing that will triple in value by 2030 and create millions of jobs, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.
The global market for key mass-manufactured technologies including solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries, heat pumps and electrolysers for hydrogen will be worth around $650 billion a year by the end of the decade, the IEA predicted in a report.
The figure is more than three times larger than current levels but is conditional on countries fully implementing their energy and climate pledges, it added.
Related jobs in clean energy manufacturing will more than double from six million to nearly 14 million by 2030, the agency said.
"The energy world is at the dawn of a new industrial age –- the age of clean energy technology manufacturing," the IEA said.
But the Paris-based organisation warned that the concentration of resource extraction and manufacturing poses risks to supply chains.
Three countries account for 70 percent of the manufacting capacity for solar, wind, battery, eletrolyser and heat pump technology, with China "dominant in all of them".
The Democratic Republic of Congo produces more than 70 percent of the world's cobalt, and three countries -- Australia, Chile and China -- account for more than 90 percent of the global production of lithium, a key resource for electric vehicle batteries.
Supply chain tensions risk making the energy transition more difficult and expensive, the report added.
In a first, rising cobalt, lithium and nickel prices in 2022 led to an increase in the global price of electric vehicle batteries by almost 10 percent.
The cost of building wind turbines outside China has also crept up after years of declining prices, while similar trends are affecting solar panels.
IEA executive director Fatih Birol urged countries to diversify supply chains, citing Europe's dependence on Russian gas as a prime of example of the potential exposure to disruption caused by depending excessively on one trade source.
"As we have seen with Europe's reliance on Russian gas, when you depend too much on one company, one country or one trade route –- you risk paying a heavy price if there is disruption," he said.
Birol also stressed the importance of international collaboration, "since no country is an energy island and energy transitions will be more costly and slow if countries do not work together."
L.K.Baumgartner--CPN