Reporting on climate change means forever being on the hunt for inflection points. Have global emissions peaked? When will the building of coal-fired power plants slow in, say, China? Has Arctic sea ice extent reached a record low?
Every time the International Energy Agency (IEA) publishes a fresh report, journalists and analysts dive in to search for such nuggets buried in the data. This week, it released its latest annual “World Energy Investment” report and Carbon Brief’s Josh Gabbatiss rolled up his sleeves and pulled out the key charts for his summary article.
Predictably, the Covid-19 crisis has had a dramatic impact on energy investment around the world. This year will see the largest ever fall in both investment and consumer spending on energy, said the IEA.
However, the report also reveals various other insights. For example, it shows that, as demand and prices collapse, consumer spending on oil is expected to drop by more than $1tn, prompting a “historic switch” as spending on electricity exceeds oil for the first time (chart above).
Another surprising find within the report was that investment in battery storage fell for the first time last year. It seems that fires at energy storage installations in South Korea were a significant cause.
IEA: Coronavirus 'accelerating closure' of ageing fossil-fuelled power plants
https://www.carbonbrief.org/...oronavirus-accelerating-closure-of-ageing-fossil-fuelled-power-plants