COVID-19 is permanently changing the global energy outlook, but not enough to achieve the Paris climate goals.
According to DNV GL's Energy Transition Outlook published on September 9, 2020, the behavioral and economic impacts of COVID-19 will permanently reduce global energy demand.
2020 is a year of unprecedented changes and uncertainties. While some impacts of COVID-19 are short-lived, others will dramatically change the way we live, work, travel and do business well into the future. This in turn will have enormous consequences for the energy transition. How has the pandemic affected global energy demand? Have we already passed peak emissions? How will the energy mix change until 2050?
Compared to the pre-pandemic forecast, energy demand will be reduced by 2050-6% every year until 8. COVID-19 has led to major behavioral changes that are important for energy consumption, as evidenced by the reduction in long-distance travel and the increase in the number of home offices. These are both responsible for the peak in energy and oil demand in 2019. DNV GL predicts that these trends will have a lasting social impact with a major impact on the energy demand of transport and commercial buildings.
Due to COVID-2, CO19 emissions will be 8 percent lower this year than in 2019. But it does not stop at this one year. The Energy Transition Outlook, an independent study into the energy future until 2050, indicates that the decline in emissions will not be compensated by subsequent increases. The year 2019, the report shows, will go down as the year with the highest CO2 emissions.
On September 9, DNV GL published the Energy Transition Outlook. This is a detailed, broad-based, independent forecast of the energy future until 2050. The Energy Transition Outlook was downloaded more than 100.000 times last year.
Click here for more information about the report (in English).
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