Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter in Baku
Image source, Getty Images
Believe it or not, the UN climate talks in Dubai last year were the first ever to agree that countries should “transition away” from fossil fuels.
It sounds like UN jargon, but the deal was celebrated as historic by many because it finally addressed the role that oil, coal and gas play in driving up global temperatures. It was vague, though, without any deadlines or specifics.
And what’s happened since then?
In good news – a massive growth in renewable electricity, such as wind and solar. The International Energy Agency, external (IEA) now predicts that the amounts of electricity generated from solar alone will quadruple from 2023 levels by 2030. At current rates, we will still fall short of a promise to triple all renewable power by 2030 – but it will be close, growing 2.7 times instead, the IEA says.
But fossil fuels still have not peaked. The US has increased its production of oil compared to last year. The use of coal is at record levels, forecasted to be 8.7 billion tonnes for the year, according to the IEA.
Thirst for energy is growing faster than we can build renewable power, some of it driven by our use of data centres and artificial intelligence.
Two-thirds of that increase in global demand was met by fossil fuels last year, according to the IEA. But importantly, the share of the global supply of energy from fossil fuels is falling and renewables are growing.
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Publish date : 2024-11-11 13:08:00
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