Aggressive decarbonisation needed to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C

A new report by Bloomberg NEF has highlighted that the demand for clean energy is set to grow.

Bloomberg NEF’s New Energy Outlook report looked at how the demand for renewables is set to grow and clarifies that aggressive decarbonisation will be needed beyond 2030 to keep temperature increases below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The New Energy Outlook combined the expertise of over 65 market and technology specialists in 12 countries to provide a unique view of how the market will evolve.

The outlook predicts that global power demand will grow by 62 per cent between now and 2050, equating to 1.5 per cent a year.

The report says that energy storage installations around the world will multiply exponentially, from a modest 9GW/17GWh deployed as of 2018 to 1,095GW/2,850GWh by 2040.

Coal is set to collapse everywhere in the world, except Asia and peaks globally in 2026. By 2032, there is more wind and solar electricity in the world than coal-fired electricity.

International variations are highlighted: "By 2040, renewables make up 90% of the electricity mix in Europe, with wind and solar accounting for 80%."

China continues to be the largest market for wind and solar, which together grow from 8% to 48% of total generation by 2050."

Yayoi Sekine, energy storage analyst for BNEF and co-author of the report, said: “Two big changes this year are that we have raised our estimate of the investment that will go into energy storage by 2040 by more than $40 billion, and that we now think the majority of new capacity will be utility-scale, rather than behind-the-meter at homes and businesses.”

The report also looks at electric vehicles, finding that EV’s will add about 3,950TWh of new electricity demand globally by 2050, accounting for 9 per cent of the world’s energy needs.

Read the full report here.