Global Energy Review 2020: The impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on global energy demand and CO2 emissions

A flagship report by the International Energy Agency in “response to the exceptional circumstances” its coverage includes real-time analysis of current developments. As usual, it looks into the “2019 energy and CO2 emissions data by fuel and country” as well as the “energy use by country and fuel over the past three months and in some cases – such as electricity – in real time.”

It provides a glimpse into the trends for 2020 and “highlights the many factors that could lead to differing outcomes”:

• “Countries in full lockdown are experiencing an average 25% decline in energy demand per week and countries in partial lockdown an average 18% decline”
• “Global energy demand declined by 3.8% in the first quarter of 2020”
• Coal demand was hit hardest and declined by 8%.
• Oil demand fell by 5%. Due to the decline in global road transport activity (50% below the 2019 average) and aviation (60% below).
• “Renewables were the only source that posted a growth in demand, driven by larger installed capacity and priority dispatch.”
• Electricity demand has shrunk by up to 20% in lock-down economies.
• Similar trends are expected to persist throughout the year.