The COVID-19 pandemic is the “biggest shock to the global energy system in more than seven decades” according to a new report from the International Energy Agency.

Based on an analysis of more than 100 days of real data so far this year, the IEA’s Global Energy Review states that the drop in energy demand this year will “dwarf the impact of the 2008 financial crisis and result in a record annual decline in carbon emissions of almost 8%”. Coal and gas demand have been hardest hit by the effects of the pandemic, however the report highlights that renewables have so far been the energy source most resilient to lockdown measures. Launching the report in Paris today, IEA executive director Fatih Birol said the coronavirus pandemic is “a historic shock to the entire energy world”. 

“Amid today’s unparalleled health and economic crises, the plunge in demand for nearly all major fuels is staggering, especially for coal, oil and gas. Only renewables are holding up during the previously unheard-of slump in electricity use.” Birol added that while “it is still too early to determine the longer-term impacts…. the energy industry that emerges from this crisis will be significantly different from the one that came before”. The report’s projections of energy demand and energy-related emissions for 2020 are based on assumptions that the lockdowns implemented around the world in response to the pandemic are progressively eased in most countries in the coming months, accompanied by a gradual economic recovery. The report projects that energy demand will fall 6% this year – seven times the decline after the 2008 global financial crisis. The IEA highlights that in absolute terms, the decline is unprecedented – “the equivalent of losing the entire energy demand of India, the world’s third […]