“The response from governments around the world promises to be a historic and definitive turning point towards a cleaner, more affordable and safer energy system,” said IEA Director Fatih Birol. If all measures are followed, global investment in renewable energy will increase by 50 percent by 2030.
According to the IEA analysis, global demand for fossil fuels is approaching a peak or plateau for the first time. Under current plans, coal use is expected to decline in the coming years and natural gas demand to reach a plateau by the end of the decade. With increasing sales of electric vehicles, oil demand will also level off in the mid-2030s. The decline started in the middle of the century.
The share of fossil fuels in the global energy mix will fall from 80 to 60 percent by 2050, the analysis shows. Global CO2 emissions will also fall. However, the IEA still assumes global warming of 2.5 degrees by the year 2100, which is a long way from the climate target of 1.5 degrees.
In its report, the agency also warns of the gap between rich and poor countries in terms of investment in low-carbon energy. It calls for a “major international effort” to narrow this “worrying gap”.