The global transition towards “Net zero” requires rapid and sustained decarbonization across multiple sectors, with the electricity sector playing a key role over the coming decades. On the supply side, renewable energy resources exhibit variability across multiple timescales, from minutes to seasons to interannual. Climate change is expected to alter not only the mean patterns of renewable resources but also their variability and the possibility of disruptive extreme events. On the demand side, extreme weather and climate change will shape both overall consumption and peak load. Unmanaged demand growth pathways can raise mitigation costs, intensify pressure on renewable resources, and exacerbate policy tradeoffs, while demand-side management can balance volatile renewable supply.
Considerable uncertainty remains in projecting long-term spatio-temporal changes in renewable sources, demand and low probability extremes that can disrupt the energy system. Since demand must be balanced by generation from largely renewable sources, there is an urgent need for deeper dialogue between climate science, climate risk, and energy transition research communities.
This session invites contributions spanning pathways to accelerate renewable energy transitions under climate change; approaches to just and equitable energy transitions; insights from climate modeling for demand or supply side challenges; approaches for balancing renewable generation with demand management across timescales; innovative concepts or tools to address uncertainty in energy-climate interactions; insights how climate risks impacts the energy transition. We encourage model-based, empirical, and conceptual studies alike, incluing:
* Impacts of climate variability (including extremes) and change on energy systems, and associated uncertainties
* Effects of present and projected renewable resource variability on energy systems, and technical approaches to balance supply and demand
* Climate-related drivers of energy demand, and the role of demand reduction and management in supporting low-carbon transitions
* Influences of extreme events and spatio-temporal complementarities on both demand and supply within energy systems
* Integrated assessments combining supply and demand side approaches to low-carbon transitions
* Spatio-temporal data needs from climate science and modelling to advance understanding of renewable energy supply and demand under climate change