Resources for the Future, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., issued its annual analysis of energy projections from organizations around the world.
Read the report: Global Energy Outlook 2024: Peaks or Plateaus?
Explore the Global Energy Outlook data tool.
Here is how Resources for the Future summarized the key findings:
resources for the future, April 2, 2024
- Consumption of coal, oil, and natural gas is expected to peak before 2030 but remain at or near a plateau through 2050 in many scenarios. Achieving international climate targets will require a peak followed by a rapid decline in fossil fuel consumption.
- Carbon dioxide removal technologies are deployed rapidly and at scale in every scenario that limits global warming to 1.5°C or 2°C by 2100. This suggests the need to quickly establish robust monitoring, reporting, and verification standards as these technologies develop further.
- Demand for metals and minerals needed for clean energy technologies is expected to rapidly expand, raising important questions about the cost of supplying these materials, along with the environmental, social, and geopolitical consequences of rapidly growing supply chains.
- Achieving clean energy deployment goals set at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28), such as tripling nuclear capacity by 2050 and renewable electricity capacity by 2030, would require unprecedented growth in both sectors.
- In China, the world’s top greenhouse gas emitter, projected energy demand has been substantially revised downward as a result of the country’s slowing economic growth and declining population.
