At the end of this decade, the energy landscape may be very different from today: it will be electrifying. This is clear from the World energy outlook report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that will be made public today.
By 2030, ten times more electric cars will be on the world's roads than are on the road today. Likewise, solar panels will consolidate their boom. They will generate more electricity than everything produced today in a year in the United States. In the global energy mix, renewable sources will account for half of the total, when they currently represent a third. Finally, heat pumps will establish themselves as alternatives to gas heating systems. And offshore wind platforms will attract three times more capital than coal plants.
In short, everything suggests a greener world with fewer emissions. “The transition to clean energy is taking place around the world and it cannot be stopped. It is no longer a question of if..., but of how,” said the executive director of this organization, Fatih Birol.
Unlike what economic studies predict from other organizations (such as the OPEC cartel) that assure that the demand for fossil energy will reach a plateau, the IEA does believe that the demand for coal, oil and natural gas will reach its peak. throughout this decade.
Currently, human beings are still “a hydrocarbon man”, since the percentage of fossil fuels in energy generation represents 80%. Well, the report points out that starting this decade this percentage will have dropped to 73%.
The problem, according to IEA technicians, is that this model of demand and production forecasts, which is based on the maintenance of current plans and policies, will not serve to comply with the Paris Agreements that establish containing the increase in temperatures caused by CO₂.
Specifically, emissions will continue to grow at least until 2025, when they would reach a maximum and finally begin a decline, still insufficient to reach the desired decarbonization objectives.
At a time when clean energy offers new jobs, more security and cleaner air, “the arguments that oil and gas represent a safe bet for the future seem weaker than ever,” concludes this international organization.
