The Huge New Energy Opportunity In The Climate Crisis

Renewable energy growth must speed up to meet Paris goals, agency says; International Renewable Energy Agency says $131tn investment in renewables could be required over three decades

Jillian Ambrose, 15 March 2021 (UK Guardian)

“Renewable electricity production needs to grow eight times faster than the current rate to help limit global heating…which could require a total investment of $131tn in renewables by 2050…[T]he gap between where we are and where we should be is not decreasing but widening…[K]eeping a lid on rising temperatures will require electricity to surpass fossil fuels as the dominant source of energy before 2050, as more economies electrify transport and heating to help cut carbon emissions…[C]lean electricity will also be in high demand to produce ‘green hydrogen’ to burn in heavy industry and manufacturing plants where direct electrification is not possible…

click to enlarge

…[E]lectric power will make up just over half of all energy consumed by 2050, compared with 21% in 2018. Fossil fuels have made up almost two-thirds of energy consumption in recent years but may be reduced to 10% by 2050…[In contrast with] the future modelled by the oil and gas giant Shell, which predicts that demand for gas will continue to climb until the mid-2030s at the earliest before beginning to decline…[The International Renewable Energy Agency] expects oil to decline to 4% of the world’s energy use by 2050, gas to peak in 2025 before falling to 6%, and coal to fall to 2% by the middle of the century…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet