Yes, we’ve got more renewables today than ever. But what’s sometimes forgotten is our continuously growing consumption. A new report by the Energy Institute has found consumption and emissions rose last year even though we’ve been getting more wind and solar power. Essentially, this means our renewable gains aren’t keeping up the pace – 2 steps forward, one step back!
Energy Insitute Report Finds Consumption Growing
The report found that fossil fuels made up 82% of global consumption in 2022. It was the same in 2021. GHG emissions rose by 0.8% last year too. The report’s authors expect consumption and emissions to rise even more this year. Renewable energy (excluding hydropower) accounted for just 7.5% of global energy use in 2022. Renewables had increased by 1% since the previous year but still this is no match for the fossil fuel share.
It’s disheartening to hear that despite the growing popularity of ESG investment, sustainability reporting and the everyday person becoming more aware of their environmental impact, we’re still consuming and emitting more. Any climate activist will tell you, we can’t afford this. IPCC scientists released a final warning in March and have been consistently telling us that we’re on track to overshoot the 1.5C warming limit. Yet, this hasn’t been enough to shift consumption habits.
Oil demand increased by 2.9 million barrels a day in 2022 according to the report. This is attributed to the economy catching up post-covid. If that wasn’t enough, coal demand skyrocketed to levels not reached since 2014. But gas consumption fell by 1%. This increase in coal and decrease in gas is a result of the war in Ukraine and the related high-price of gas.
Juliet Davenport, president of the Energy Institute, said…
“Despite further strong growth in wind and solar in the power sector, overall global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions increased again. We are still heading in the opposite direction to that required by the Paris agreement.”
Simon Virley, the head of energy and natural resources at KPMG who partnered with Kearney and the Energy Institute on the study, said…
“Despite record growth in renewables, the share of world energy still coming from fossil fuels remains stubbornly stuck at 82%, which should act as a clarion call for governments to inject more urgency into the energy transition.”
The Silver Lining?
Solar grew by 25% and wind by 13.5%. And while global consumption did grow, it did so at a slower rate than the previous year (1.1% in 2022 but 5.5% in 2021). There is hope! There are so many renewable energy projects planned around the world. In the UK they have enough in their pipeline to reach their energy targets, if only they can overcome some planning barriers. And in Senegal they have the potential to save $700 million with renewable developments. These sorts of changes will hopefully reach a tipping point in the next few years, allowing for more and more renewable projects.
But we can’t just wait for renewables. It’s been said a million times before but it’s worth reiterating. We need to lower our consumption levels. Not just stop them growing but lower them. We need huge multinational companies to be forthcoming about their supply chains, governments to remove barriers for green development and all of us to do our bit, to consume as consciously as possible and to demand better from government and business. How do you think we could reduce our energy consumption?
