No silver bullet to cut emissions: IEA chief

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - There is "no silver bullet" to solve the world's energy challenges, but a host of technologies must be harnessed to cut heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the International Energy Agency chief said on Friday.

IEA Executive Director Claude Mandil noted that energy consumption was forecast to rise by nearly 50 percent by 2030, with fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas still accounting for the "lion's share." But this was "not sustainable," he said.

The world is producing some 25 billion metric tons of CO2 each year, which rises by about 1 billion metric tons every two years, according to Mandil. He said that the aim should be to eliminate one billion metric tons of CO2 emissions a year.

"We can reach a long-term sustainable energy future with known technologies and at a cost that is not out of reach," he told a United Nations forum on sustainable energy policies.

Burning fossil fuels for energy produces CO2, a greenhouse gas widely linked to a rise in world temperatures. Mandil said that cleaner sources of energy must be promoted alongside efforts to curb emissions.

"In the long term we recognize that energy efficiencies will not alone solve the problem," he said. "There is no silver bullet. Nothing can be achieved with one technology alone."

Replacing coal power plants with "zero-emission" plants, using solar electricity, wind, nuclear power, more efficient lighting, as well as carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) can all help to reduce CO2 emissions growth, according to Mandil.

"But we're afraid that in 2030, carbon capture and sequestration technologies would not be available at an affordable cost on a large scale at that time," he said.