Half of the world’s economies are at least five years past their peak fossil fuel usage for power generation, according to a new study, with 107 of the countries surveyed burning less coal, oil and gas to produce electricity than they were between five and 23 years ago, resulting in a 20 percent decline in the carbon emissions from those sectors over the past decade alone.
The study, conducted by energy think-tank Ember, analyzed the progress of the power generation sectors of 215 countries between 2000 and 2022 and found that just under half of them—107—had seen declines in the use of fossil fuels over that time period, with the most recent peak in use being no later than five years ago; overall, these 107 countries represent 38 percent of global energy demand.
On a larger scale, with the sole exception of Latvia, all of the member states of the European Union are listed as reporting declines in fossil fuel use, boasting a 30 percent drop since the start of the millennium; the nations of Oceania and North America are following suit, with reductions of 20 and 15 percent, respectively.
As would be expected, the individual progress shown by each of these 107 countries is quite varied: Slovakia was the first out of the gate, having cut its use by slightly more than half since its peak in 2000; conversely, three countries—Cuba, France and Pakistan—only started to report declines in 2017. Individual progress ranges from Armenia’s 0.3 percent reduction since 2013, to Luxembourg’s whopping 95.1 percent drop since their peak in 2006.
Having peaked a year after Slovakia started seeing declines, Canada reported a 30.6 percent drop in fossil fuel use in the 22 years since 2001; after peaking in 2007 the United States saw a 14.4 percent drop; and the United Kingdom reported an impressive 54.4 percent drop since their own peak a year later.
The countries of other continents, including Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, have all plateaued in the growth of fossil fuel generation, having seen neither growth nor decline in the sector for about a decade. However, Asia and the Middle East are, overall, still increasing their hydrocarbon use; notable exceptions in those blocs are Japan, having seen a 20 percent drop over the past decade, and Nepal is now running entirely on renewable energy.
The study offers the caveat that its analysis only extends back to 2000; some countries may have been left out of the list if their fossil fuel use peaked before the turn of the millennium, meaning that overall progress may actually be farther along than what study’s findings indicate. It also cautions that the declines for some countries aren’t due to changes in their individual power sectors, but rather because of declines in demand caused by situations such as war or recession; additionally, some economies have switched to importing their electricity from other countries, rather than generating it domestically.
Overall, the study also found that the countries that are at least one year past their peak usage represent 50 percent of global electrical demand, with global emissions from the power sector having increased by only 0.2 percent over the first half of 2023. This suggests that we have passed a tipping point in regards to carbon emission-producing power generation, and are on the way to renewables being the dominant source of energy across the globe.
Subscribers, to watch the subscriber version of the video, first log in then click on Dreamland Subscriber-Only Video Podcast link.
Thank you so much for this headline news analysis. We will very soon see Pope Francis attend a major global economic meeting where he is scheduled to interview each of the attending countries before that summit begins. He knows that much more climate progress must be made, and quickly.