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Record renewable energy production has failed to dent the use of fossil fuels which continue to power more than four-fifths of the world’s energy supply, a benchmark report has said.
Oil, gas and coal account for 82 per cent of supply, the UK-based Energy Institute industry body found.
Greenhouse gas emissions also grew last year, up 0.8 per cent despite a rapid scale-up of renewable energy deployment, its annual industry review said.
“Despite further strong growth in wind and solar in the power sector, overall global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions increased again,” said Juliet Davenport, president of the Energy Institute.
“We have seen further and ever more dangerous impacts of climate change. And despite consensus on the need to reach net zero, global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions are still heading in the wrong direction.”
Solar and wind capacity experienced growth, with a record-breaking addition of 266 gigawatts. Solar energy accounted for 72 per cent of this capacity expansion.
China drove much of the expansion in both solar and wind energy, contributing around 37 per cent and 41 per cent of the additional capacity respectively.
Hydroelectricity generation increased by 1.1 per cent while nuclear output declined 4.4 per cent.
Worldwide coal production reached an all-time high in 2022. The production surge was primarily driven by China, India and Indonesia, which accounted for more than 95 per cent of the increase. Coal use increased 0.6 per cent compared with 2021 – the highest level since 2014, the report said.
Overall global energy demand grew around 1 per cent, slowing from the previous year’s 5.5 per cent, but demand remains almost 3 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Renewables, excluding hydro-power, accounted for 7.5 per cent of global energy consumption, up 1 per cent on 2021 figures but overshadowed by the share of fossil fuels, which remained unchanged at 82 per cent.
Wind and solar power grew to a record share of 12 per cent of power generation. Coal’s share in power generation remained dominant at around 35.4 per cent.
Oil consumption increased by 2.9 million barrels per day (bpd) to 97.3 million bpd. Increased oil demand came from revived appetite for jet fuel and diesel-related products.
The report found that emissions from energy reached a record high of 39.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent – a 0.8 per cent increase over 2021. Emissions from energy consumption contributed 87 per cent of total global emissions.
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