No Peak in Sight for Emissions

EIA and IEA are out with projections for emissions and fossil fuel consumption. And they don’t look good. 

On our current policy trajectory, there is no peak in sight, according to EIA By 2050, we will likely see a 50% increase in energy consumption. And even though renewables will be the fastest-growing new source of energy, hydrocarbon liquid fuels will meet the majority of demand.

That means emissions could rise through 2050, absent massive changes to policy.

In July, the International Energy Agency issued a similar analysis showing that carbon emissions will hit record levels in the coming years. And that spending packages around the world — even at historic levels — are still not enough. 

How do we make sense of this sobering analysis?

Plus, Wood Mackenzie is out with a new analysis of global energy storage trends, showing that storage deployments are set to triple this year. Most of that growth is coming from America and China, which account for 70% of installations. What are the applications, technologies and markets that will dominate this growth?

Finally, Europe is in a crisis headed into winter. Natural gas is the second-most confused fuel in Europe — and prices are 6 times higher than they were in the spring.

A confluence of factors — rapidly rising demand all at once, lower production than expected from Russia, low storage in Europe, lower-than-expected hydro and wind production — are contributing to the problem. 

What could alleviate the crisis? And does this put strain on Europe’s climate ambitions headed into COP26?

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