IEA Releases World Energy Outlook for 2015 Addressing Global Energy Market and Climate Change

On November 10, 2015, the International Energy Agency (IEA) unveiled its annual World Energy Outlook for the year 2015 during a press conference held in London. This follows the release in June 2015 of the IEA Special Report on Energy and Climate Change in support of the highly anticipated United Nations Summit on Climate Change that will be held in Paris, France, in December 2015.

The outlook provides an analysis of the global energy market in 2015 and highlights the importance of reducing global warming toward low-carbon energy and efficient energy policy instruments.

The outlook observes that the evolution of China and India’s energy consumption may significantly influence energy security and the environment at a global level. It predicted that “by 2030 [China will likely] overtake the United States as the biggest consumer of oil.” As for India, “policies in place to accelerate the country’s modernization and develop its manufacturing base . . ., [as well] population and incomes on the rise and an additional 315 million people anticipated to live in India’s cities by 2040.” Therefore, the outlook stresses that it is important to be more vigilant than ever in terms of policy choices.

The outlook also emphasizes on natural gas as being “a good fit for a gradually decarbonizing energy system” despite the concerns surrounding methane emissions.

The full outlook is not publicly available, but the executive summary and further information can be found at http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/

Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow
11/13/2015

G-7 ADDRESSES CLIMATE CHANGE AND DECARBONISATION OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

On the occasion of the 41st G-7 Summit held in Schloss Elmau, Germany, on June 7-8, 2015, the world economic leaders and their invitees focused on global economy, foreign policy, health and climate change challenges.

On climate change, the G-7 leaders expressed their full support for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommendation of moving from 40% to 70% greenhouse gas reductions by 2050 compared to the 2010 levels.

In an objective to implement “a decarbonisation of the global economy over the course of this century”, the G-7 leaders committed to “achieve a low-carbon global economy in the long-term including developing and deploying innovative technologies striving for a transformation of the energy sectors by 2050 . . . [t]o this end [they] also commit to develop long term national low-carbon strategies.”

Additionally, in their communique, the G-7 leaders emphasize “diversification as a core element of energy security and aim to further diversify the energy mix, energy fuels, sources and routes” – which may reinitiate the question of shale gas development in Europe. 

Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow

06/10/2015