A Review of World Energy
5 years, 24 days, 19 hours
28 June 2024
However hard I try I can reach no other conclusion than that the 2024 Statistical Review of World Energy that KPMG published a few weeks ago in collaboration with the Energy Institute, reporting on global energy data for 2023, is one of the most depressing reports I have ever read.
If I screw-in my most Threlfall-optimistic lens then there are some bright spots. A 67% leap in global solar and wind capacity is a huge step forward, and if we can keep accelerating delivery of renewables then eventually we should get to a good place. That China installed 66% of all the world’s new wind capacity, and that Southern and Central America saw their renewable share of electricity generation reach 72% are both exemplars for others. The slight fall in oil consumption in Europe and ongoing decline in coal consumption in Europe and North America to levels that are approaching negligible in the overall mix, are both welcome, as is the 8% increase in global bio-fuels production.
But, (and please imagine this is a Font 80 BUT), this is in the context of a slew of horrific stats on overall energy production, consumption and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions. Global coal production reached record levels. Global oil consumption levels reached record levels. Greenhouse gas emissions from energy reached record levels (up 2% on 2022). Coal consumption in India rose to exceed that of the whole of Europe and North America together.
I know it is an emotive issue where energy is a fundamental driver of and reflector of economic growth and therefore social advancement, particularly in developing markets, but we can’t carry on in a world where significant gains in renewables production are being almost entirely offset by the overall increase in energy use. The increase in renewables share of energy consumption was 0.4% (to 14.6%). At this rate of progress it will take us 200 years to be totally green in energy. And we won’t have a livable world to carry on in long before then.
There is a clue in the report to what is exacerbating the problem, and therefore a hint at the solution. Coal prices fell 46%, gas prices fell 30% and oil prices 18%, compared to 2022. Surely this report is (yet another) wake up call that we urgently need a global carbon tax to create an economic incentive on nations, businesses and all of us as consumers and citizens to reduce energy use, and where energy use is necessary to switch much more quickly to green.