World Energy Outlook Report 2021: IEA
The International Energy Agency (IEA) released the World Energy Outlook (WEO) Report 2021.
- Published every year, the WEO provides critical analysis and insights on trends in energy demand and supply.
- The 2021 report signaled pressure on governments to push for greater climate action at the Conference of Parties (COP26) summit (in Glasgow, UK).
- Earlier, IEA also released its Net Zero Emissions (NZE) Roadmap – named ‘Net Zero by 2050’.
- Renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, hydropower and bioenergy, need to form a far bigger share in the rebound in energy investment after the coronavirus pandemic.
- World is not investing enough to meet future energy needs, and the uncertainties are setting the stage for a volatile period ahead.
- Demand for renewables continues to grow. However, this clean energy progress is still far too slow to put global emissions into sustained decline towards net zero by 2050, which the IEA believes will help limit the increase in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
- Initially IEA supported continued investment in fossil fuels. However it has gradually moved toward a “more distinct tone urging decision makers to mitigate climate change”.
- The extra investment might not be as difficult as it sounds. More than 40% of the required emissions reductions would come from measures that pay for themselves, such as:
- Improving efficiency, limiting gas leakage, or installing wind or solar in places where they are now the most competitive electricity generation technologies.
