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Field guide

System challenges

Wires, rocks, and politics—decarbonising is a whole-system sport, not a solo act.

Set the scene

System challenges span grids, minerals, finance, governance, and equity. IPCC AR6 WGIII notes rapid low-carbon deployment but stresses that current rates are insufficient for stringent climate goals without accelerated action; WGII highlights climate impacts on infrastructure.

Signal, not noise

Three snaps from the evidence

3 beats
  1. 01

    Transmission and distribution investment often lags renewable potential; markets and permitting are frequent bottlenecks.

  2. 02

    Critical minerals for electrification and storage raise energy security and environmental justice concerns.

  3. 03

    Climate impacts (heat, storms, water stress) can stress power systems—resilience is part of mitigation portfolios.

Chart break

Explore the data

Cobalt production and reserves (thousand tonnes). One supply-side lens on critical minerals; battery chemistry, recycling, and industrial uses also shape outcomes. See the grapher page for sources.

Chart: Our World in Data (CC BY). Each grapher page lists the underlying datasets, units, and processing notes—use it when citing numbers.

Open on Our World in Data

No fairy tales

Where it helps—and where it hurts

Strengths

  • Integrated planning can reduce costs through transmission, storage, and flexible demand together.
  • Efficiency lowers required new supply and can reduce bills when programmes reach underserved households.
  • Transparent, participatory siting can improve legitimacy and speed safe deployment.

Limits & trade-offs

  • Legacy fossil assets and political economy can slow turnover despite economics.
  • Mining and refining can harm communities and ecosystems if standards are weak.
  • Public acceptance and perceived fairness can block projects even when models show net benefits.

Read the receipts

Sources for this page

These entries are starting points for verification. Prefer the original report or dataset when checking numbers and figures.

  1. IPCC AR6 WGIII Ch. 6Clarke, L., Wei, Y.-M., De La Vega Navarro, A., Garg, A., Hahmann, A. N., Khennas, S., Azevedo, I. M. L., Loschel, A., Singh, A. K., Steg, L., Strbac, G., & Wada, K. (2022). Energy systems. In P. R. Shukla et al. (Eds.), Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change (IPCC AR6 WGIII, Chapter 6). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157926.008
  2. IEA critical mineralsInternational Energy Agency. (2021). The role of critical minerals in clean energy transitions (World Energy Outlook Special Report; revised March 2022). IEA. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions
  3. IPCC AR6 WGII energy systemsIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2022). Climate Change 2022: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability (Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report). Cambridge University Press. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/
  4. Our World in DataRitchie, H., & Rosado, P. (2020). Electricity mix. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/electricity-mix (underlying grapher datasets include Ember and Energy Institute series, cited per chart metadata).