Released June 23, 2020 | SUGAR LAND
en
Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The global COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic destruction, as terrible as they have been, create a "once in a lifetime" opportunity for nations and companies to rebuild their energy infrastructure in ways that are "cleaner, fairer and more secure," according to Sustainable Recovery, a lengthy report issued June 18 by the International Energy Agency (IEA) (Paris, France). The price: $3 trillion over three years.
Sustainable Recovery, produced in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (Washington, D.C.), notes that nations, companies and non-governmental organizations increasingly are focusing on "how to bring about an economic recovery that repairs the damage inflicted by the crisis while putting the world on a stronger footing for the future."
The report praised the way the electricity industry has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic: "Uninterrupted energy supplies have enabled hospitals to provide care, food and other essentials to be delivered, and millions of people to work and study from home while maintaining social contact online."
Global energy demand is expected to decline about 6% this year, which would be roughly seven times larger than the 2008-9 financial crisis, the report projected. It assumed a gradual recovery in the global economy.
Electricity demand fell by 20% or more in countries that were on full lockdown earlier this year, the report noted. Global electric demand could fall by 5% this year, with some regions experiencing reductions of up to 10%.
As policymakers around the world focus on safely reopening their economies amid high uncertainties over a "second wave" of COVID-19, the IEA urged market participants, mainly governments, not to go back to "business as usual" by restarting aging fossil-fueled generators or moving forward with planned energy infrastructure projects. Instead, the agency urged a more holistic view of energy that optimizes supply-side resources and customer-side efficiencies "to revitalize economies and boost employment while making energy systems cleaner and more resilient."
The IEA's plan offers "an energy sector roadmap for governments to spur economic growth, create millions of jobs and put global emissions into structural decline. By integrating energy policies into government responses to the economic shock caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the plan would also accelerate the deployment of modern, reliable and clean energy technologies and infrastructure."
The energy agency said implementing its plan over three years, 2021-2023, would:
But rather than create, or try to recreate, the traditional electricity model around large, central station generators and extended transmission lines, the IEA is advocating a more decentralized, cleaner and greener electricity model built around renewable energy, battery energy storage and distributed generation. It also called for a significant increase in energy-efficiency measures, both for homes and businesses, as well as increasing the efficiency of electric generators.
The three-year, $3 trillion plan represents less than 1% of current global gross domestic product (GDP) and includes both public spending and private finance that would be guided by government policies.
The IEA said its plan analyzed over 30 specific energy policy measures and considered cost-effectiveness, the circumstances of different countries, the existing pipelines of energy projects, and current market conditions. It assessed six specific sectors -- electricity, transport, industry, buildings, fuels and emerging low-carbon technologies.
Broadly considered, the global energy industry -- including the electricity, oil and gas, coal and biofuels industries -- directly employed around 40 million people in 2019, the IEA said, but it estimated that nearly 10% of those jobs, about 3 million, have been lost or are at risk of loss, due to COVID-19, declining demand for electricity, falling use of coal in many countries and extraordinarily high demand and price volatility in the oil and gas industry. Another 3 million jobs in energy-related industries, such as transportation, also could be lost or threatened.
Implementing the recommendations of Sustainable Recovery would lead to millions of new jobs in energy-efficiency retrofitting businesses and industrial facilities as well as construction of renewable energy generation and manufacturing of electric and hybrid transport vehicles.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.
Sustainable Recovery, produced in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (Washington, D.C.), notes that nations, companies and non-governmental organizations increasingly are focusing on "how to bring about an economic recovery that repairs the damage inflicted by the crisis while putting the world on a stronger footing for the future."
The report praised the way the electricity industry has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic: "Uninterrupted energy supplies have enabled hospitals to provide care, food and other essentials to be delivered, and millions of people to work and study from home while maintaining social contact online."
Global energy demand is expected to decline about 6% this year, which would be roughly seven times larger than the 2008-9 financial crisis, the report projected. It assumed a gradual recovery in the global economy.
Electricity demand fell by 20% or more in countries that were on full lockdown earlier this year, the report noted. Global electric demand could fall by 5% this year, with some regions experiencing reductions of up to 10%.
As policymakers around the world focus on safely reopening their economies amid high uncertainties over a "second wave" of COVID-19, the IEA urged market participants, mainly governments, not to go back to "business as usual" by restarting aging fossil-fueled generators or moving forward with planned energy infrastructure projects. Instead, the agency urged a more holistic view of energy that optimizes supply-side resources and customer-side efficiencies "to revitalize economies and boost employment while making energy systems cleaner and more resilient."
The IEA's plan offers "an energy sector roadmap for governments to spur economic growth, create millions of jobs and put global emissions into structural decline. By integrating energy policies into government responses to the economic shock caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the plan would also accelerate the deployment of modern, reliable and clean energy technologies and infrastructure."
The energy agency said implementing its plan over three years, 2021-2023, would:
- boost global economic growth by an average of 1.1 percentage points a year
- save or create roughly 9 million jobs a year
- reduce annual global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions by a total of 4.5 billion tonnes by the end of the plan
But rather than create, or try to recreate, the traditional electricity model around large, central station generators and extended transmission lines, the IEA is advocating a more decentralized, cleaner and greener electricity model built around renewable energy, battery energy storage and distributed generation. It also called for a significant increase in energy-efficiency measures, both for homes and businesses, as well as increasing the efficiency of electric generators.
The three-year, $3 trillion plan represents less than 1% of current global gross domestic product (GDP) and includes both public spending and private finance that would be guided by government policies.
The IEA said its plan analyzed over 30 specific energy policy measures and considered cost-effectiveness, the circumstances of different countries, the existing pipelines of energy projects, and current market conditions. It assessed six specific sectors -- electricity, transport, industry, buildings, fuels and emerging low-carbon technologies.
Broadly considered, the global energy industry -- including the electricity, oil and gas, coal and biofuels industries -- directly employed around 40 million people in 2019, the IEA said, but it estimated that nearly 10% of those jobs, about 3 million, have been lost or are at risk of loss, due to COVID-19, declining demand for electricity, falling use of coal in many countries and extraordinarily high demand and price volatility in the oil and gas industry. Another 3 million jobs in energy-related industries, such as transportation, also could be lost or threatened.
Implementing the recommendations of Sustainable Recovery would lead to millions of new jobs in energy-efficiency retrofitting businesses and industrial facilities as well as construction of renewable energy generation and manufacturing of electric and hybrid transport vehicles.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.
