Will the COVID Crisis Push Renewables

The International Energy Agency states that global energy demand in the current year is set to decline by 6% YoY. The coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted energy demand worldwide. The pandemic-induced lockdown has put a halt on the daily lives of the people. Oil is the worst affected of all energy sources. Given its green and clean credentials, renewable energy continued to operate on full-scale and efficiently.

In the first quarter, the global use of renewable energy grew by 1.5% year-on-year.  Renewable electricity generation increased by nearly 3% mainly due to new wind and solar projects coming online. The share of renewable energy in the overall global electricity generation mix increased to 28% in the first quarter from 26% at the end of 2019. IEA expects global use of renewable energy to increase by 1% for the full year.

Oil, on the other hand, is set to witness the heaviest demand fall. The transport sector that drives nearly 60% of global oil demand, suffered due to widespread lockdown as both roads, as well as air travel, were impacted negatively. Since the transport sector was worse hit, the electric vehicles’ demand also slumped. EV sales are expected to fall by more than 40% in the current year.

The IEA has also predicted that global CO2 emissions in 2020 will fall by the biggest ever margin, clocking a 2.6 Gt decline. The U.S. will be the biggest contributor, closely followed by China and the EU region. Global CO2 emissions fell by 5% in Q1. The change in the environment is pretty obvious in the last four months of the virus-induced lockdown worldwide. The world indeed looks much better and breathable! The COVID crisis has definitely silenced the critics as the pollution levels have drastically gone down with the minimized use of dirty coal and oil.