The lead authors of World Energy Outlook 2016 presented their views on current status and future of renewables, which were the subject of a special focus in this year’s Outlook.
Significant increase of renewable capacity in the power sector, which exceeded coal, gas, oil. and nuclear combined, as well as fast growth of EVs on the road to over 1 million vehicles are among the most impressive achievements in renewable energy in 2015.
In Outlook's main scenario, nearly 60% of all new power generation capacity to 2040 comes from renewables and, by 2040, the majority of renewables based generation is competitive without any subsidies. Low-carbon fuels and technologies, mostly renewables, along with natural gas, win the race to meet the growth in energy demand, accounting for more than 80% of the increase to 2040. The next challenge for the renewable energy is to expand their use in the industrial, building and transportation sectors where enormous potential for growth exists.
Implementation of the climate pledges will slow down the projected rise in energy-related CO2 emissions from an average of 2.4% per year since 2000 to 0.5% per year to 2040.
