Publications

The cement energy technology roadmap outlines a possible transition path for the industry to make continued contributions towards a halving of global CO2 emissions by 2050. As part of this contribution, this roadmap estimates that the cement industry could reduce its direct emissions 18% from current levels by 2050. This roadmap is a first step. It is only attainable with a supportive policy framework, and appropriate financial resources invested over the long term.

Wind energy is perhaps the most advanced of the 'new' renewable energy technologies, but there is still much work to be done. This energy technology roadmap identifies the key tasks that must be undertaken in order to achieve a vision of over 2 000 GW of wind energy capacity by 2050. Governments, industry, research institutions and the wider energy sector will need to work together to achieve this goal.

This energy technology roadmap focuses on electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles (EV/PHEV), presenting for the first time a detailed scenario for their evolution from annual production of a few thousand to over 100 million vehicles by 2050. It finds that the next decade is a key 'make or break' period for EVs and PHEVs: governments, the automobile industry, electric utilities and other stakeholders must work together to roll out vehicles and infrastructure in a coordinated fashion, and ensure that the rapidly growing consumer market is ready to purchase them. The roadmap concludes with a set of near-term actions to achieve the roadmap’s vision.

This report covers a broad range of SME taxation issues, including possible effects of taxation on the creation and growth of SMEs, and considerations arising from a relatively high compliance burden. Differing income tax and social security contribution burdens of unincorporated and incorporated SMEs are considered in detail, with analysis of average statutory tax rates carried out to investigate possible tax distortions to business creation and business structure decisions of a single worker/owner of an SME. Various arguments are presented for and against the targeting of tax incentives at SMEs. Country examples of SME tax incentives and compliance cost reduction measures are provided in the report.

Experimental facilities are essential research tools both for the development of nuclear science and technology and for testing systems and materials which are currently being used or will be used in the future. As a result of economic pressures and the closure of older facilities, there are concerns that the ability to undertake the research necessary to maintain and to develop nuclear science and technology may be in jeopardy.

An NEA expert group with representation from ten member countries, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Commission has reviewed the status of those research and test facilities of interest to the NEA Nuclear Science Committee. They include facilities relating to nuclear data measurement, reactor development, neutron scattering, neutron radiography, accelerator-driven systems, transmutation, nuclear fuel, materials, safety, radiochemistry, partitioning and nuclear process heat for hydrogen production.

This report contains the expert group’s detailed assessment of the current status of these nuclear research facilities and makes recommendations on how future developments in the field can be secured through the provision of high-quality, modern facilities. It also describes the online database which has been established by the expert group which includes more than 700 facilities.

This energy technology roadmap on carbon capture and storage (CCS) identifies, for the first time, a detailed scenario for the technology’s growth from a handful of large-scale projects today to over three thousand projects by 2050. It finds that the next decade is a key 'make or break' period for CCS; governments, industry and public stakeholders must act rapidly to demonstrate CCS at scale around the world in a variety of settings. The roadmap concludes with a set of near-term actions that stakeholders will need to take to achieve the roadmap’s vision.

This paper explores different measures of energy efficiency performance ('MEEP') and considers the importance of so-called boundary definitions when measuring energy performance, and how these affect the appropriateness of country comparisons to guide policy decisions.
The paper also addresses the limitations of both energy intensity and technology diffusion indicators as measures of energy efficiency performance. A case study on Japan’s iron and steel industry illustrates the critical role of proper boundary definitions for a meaningful assessment of energy efficiency in industry. 

Clean coal technologies (CCTs) have been developed and deployed to reduce the environmental impact of coal utilisation over the past 30 to 40 years. Initially, the focus was upon reducing emissions of particulates, SO2, NOX and mercury.
The coal sector – producers, consumers and equipment suppliers – as well as governments and agencies in countries where coal is essential, have a long experience of stimulating clean coal technology deployment.

Electricity production is responsible for 32% of total global fossil fuel use, accounting for 132 EJ, and 41%, or 10.9 Gt of energy-related CO₂ emissions. Improving the efficiency of electricity production therefore offers economic benefits and a significant opportunity for reducing dependence on fossil fuels, which helps to combat climate change and improve energy security.
A set of indicators has been developed to analyse the energy efficiency of electricity production from fossil fuels on a global level and for a number of key countries and regions.

A number of renewable electricity technologies, such as wind, wave, tidal, solar, and run-of-river hydro share a characteristic that distinguishes them from conventional power plants: their output varies according to the availability of the resource. This is commonly perceived to be challenging at high shares, but there is no intrinsic, technical ceiling to variable renewables’ potential. Variability has to be looked at in the context of power system flexibility: if a power system is sufficiently flexible, in terms of power production, load management, interconnection and storage, the importance of the variability aspect is reduced.