The world is risking locking itself into an inefficient, insecure, high-carbon future unless decisive action is taken swiftly, warned the International Energy Agency (IEA) yesterday.

The admonition came as the organisation launched the latest edition of its World Energy Outlook (WEO).

Governments around the globe need to introduce stronger measures to drive energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies, says IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven.

“Growth, prosperity and rising population will inevitably push up energy needs over the coming decades. But we cannot continue to rely on insecure and environmentally unsustainable uses of energy,” she says.

According to the scenario modelled in the WEO, cumulative CO₂ emissions will drive the long-term average temperature rise to 3.5°C.

The model assumes primary energy demand will rise by a third between now and 2035, driven mainly by non-OECD economies, with the proportion of fossil fuels in use falling from 81% to 75% and renewables increasing from 13% to 18%.

While such an increase in renewables will require subsidies to rise from current levels of around $64 billion to $250 billion in 2035, this is still much less than the subsidies for fossil fuels that currently amount to £409 billion, points out the IEA.

But the starkest warning of the report is that if new policies are not implemented by 2017 the world is on track for an average temperature rise of 6°C.

The world has already reached the point of 390 parts per million (ppm) of CO₂, four-fifths of the way to the limit of 450 ppm that would keep temperature rises to 2°C.

“As each year passes without clear signals to drive investment in clean energy, the ‘lock-in’ of high-carbon infrastructure is making it harder and more expensive to meet our energy security and climate goals,” says IEA’s chief economist Fatih Birol.

After announcing a delay to its new greenhouse gas standards, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appears to be proposing to relax its new rules for limiting smog-forming chemicals from power plants, which will come into force in January next year.

According to media reports, the EPA is proposing to change the rule, which will require around 1000 facilities in 27 states to cut sulphur dioxide by 73% and nitrogen oxide by 54% compared to 2005 levels by 2014.

The EPA’s proposal for the Cross State Air Pollution rule would increase pollution credits in 10 states by 1%, leading to 1.3% more emissions, says Reuters.

Last month, the EPA also dropped plans for a ruling on ozone pollution after political pressure.

But the Agency maintains that the changes to the Cross State Air Pollution Rule are merely a routine technical adjustment of the levels based on new data from local and state authorities.

China is to invest 2 trillion yuan (over $300 billion) over the next five years to encourage a low-carbon economy, according to Reuters reports.

The news agency quotes Xie Zhenhua, vice minister of theNational Development and Reform Commission, as saying that low-carbon development will be promoted in the country’s current five-year plan, which began this year.

The plan includes creating low-carbon programmes in five provinces and eight cities, as well as 100 centres focusing on use of resources.

The country is also taking steps to tighten air quality standards for thermal power plans and develop a carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry.

According to media reports, China plans to double spending on CCS over the next five years to 400 million yuan (over $60 million).

UK energy company Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has announced that it is pulling out of its nuclear development joint venture with GDF Suez and Iberdrola.

The three partners had planned to develop new nuclear capacity in the UK through the NuGeneration (NuGen) venture, which has a purchase option for up to 3.6 GW near Sellafield in West Cumbria.

The site was secured for an initial cash consideration of £19.5 million and was named as a suitable location for development in the Government’s National Policy Statement for Nuclear Power Generation this summer.

But SSE says it has informed its partners that it wants to sell them its 25% stake in NuGen, marking its withdrawal from the sector.

“The UK will need both nuclear and renewable energy in the future, but we have made it clear from the start of our involvement in NuGen that for SSE our core investment in generation should be in renewable energy,” commented Alistair Phillips-Davies, director of generation and supply at SSE.

Although Phillips-Davies doesn’t rule out future investment in nuclear power, he says that for the moment the company will focus on renewable energy, gas-fired generation, including carbon capture and storage options, and alternative energy developments.

“Given we have no experience of ownership or operations in the nuclear sector,” says Phillips-Davies, “we have always adopted a cautious approach to the financial and other issues associated with nuclear power development.”

For now, he says, SSE believes that the “significant financial and management resources” required to drive NuGen forward would be better deployed by the company elsewhere.

Earlier this week, German engineering giant Siemens announced that it will no longer be producing nuclear power dedicated equipment and components.

Energy company Cuadrilla Resources has claimed that there is a huge shale gas field in Lancashire, in the northwest of England.

According to news reports, preliminary drilling around Blackpool indicates that there is 200 trillion cubic feet of gas, enough to trigger a ‘shale gas’ goldrush like that sweeping the US. In a report, the company claims that the deposits could create thousands of jobs in the region.

But while UK Energy Minister Charles Hendry said in an article in The Guardian newspaper yesterday that it is worth exploring the potential of shale gas, the finding is worrying environmentalists.

Green groups are wary of fracking, the process used to extract shale gas that involves injecting a high pressure mixture of sand, water and chemicals into the deposit, because of concerns about contamination of water supplies.

Earlier this year, Cuadrilla had to halt its test drilling following two tremors in the region, which are currently being investigated by the British Geological Survey.

The practice has been banned in some parts of the US, Canada and Switzerland, as well as France, which reportedly has large shale gas deposits, because of environmental concerns.

But Hendry says that shale gas exploration in the UK is governed by “one of the most robust and stringent regulatory frameworks in the world”, with any application subject to planning permission and scrutiny by the Environment Agency.

Environmental groups are also concerned that a ‘dash for gas’ could deflect focus and investment away from renewable energy development.

“Drilling for shale gas raises serious safety concerns and risks polluting water supplies – and it could take vital funding away from the clean energy solutions we know are safe and will work,” says Friends of the Earth campaigner Tony Bosworth. “There should be no more fracking in Britain until safety and environmental concerns have been properly addressed.”