Renewables are cheaper than ever yet fossil fuel use is still growing
Wind and solar are the world’s fastest growing energy sources and together generated 12% of global electricity in 2023.And the amount of energy produced by wind and solar is only expected to increase.
Wind generated 1TW for the first time in 2023 – nearly as much as the total installed energy capacity of the US (1.2 TW). Solar broke this threshold in 2022.
So why in the first global stocktake of the world’s progress towards 1.5°C did the UN say we’re still not phasing out fossil fuels fast enough?
Despite the rapid growth of renewables, the use of coal and natural gas has risen by 22% and 37% since 2010, respectively.
Nonetheless, the phase-out of coal is gaining momentum.During the past decade, the number of new coal power plants built annually has fallen fast.
Global coal demand has continued to fall even as the war in Ukraine strains gas supplies.
In the most prosperous OECD countries, virtually no new coal plants are planned or being built, though new coal mines are still being approved.
The US has retired many ageing coal plants since the mid-2010s. The country’s coal fleet will continue to shrink as 99% of coal projects are more expensive than new clean energy, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
This picture is very different in Asia where countries have relied heavily on cheap coal to fuel their economies. This is particularly true in China.
But there are some signs this is changing. The global pipeline for new coal power plants is smaller than ever and China and India both pledged to phase down coal at the Glasgow climate summit.
Increasing renewable energy hasn’t cut coal and gas consumption at the same rate because humankind is using a lot more electricity than we used to, especially in Asia. In the last 20 years, electricity use in Europe and North America has remained largely constant.