A CLIMATE
OF CHANGE?
BP’s 68th Statistical Review of World Energy found a disparity between demands
for climate change action and the actual pace of progressB
P’s 68th annual Statistical
Review of World Energy (BP
Stats Review) found a growing
divergence between demands for
action on climate change and the actual
pace of progress on reducing carbon
emissions.
Global energy demand grew 2.9% in
2018, while carbon emissions grew 2%,
which BP says is faster than any time
since 2010 to 2011. Energy demand
growth was driven by China the US and
India, which collectively accounted for
two thirds of the growth. In the report,
Spencer Dale, BP’s chief economist, at-tributed much of the growth to surprising
weather effects, noting that there was an
unusually large amount of hot and cold
days which would require heating or
cooling services.
Consumption and production of natu-
ral gas was up over 5%, reflecting one of
the strongest rates of growth for more
than 30 years. Coal production (4.3%
growth) and consumption (1.4% growth)
grew for the second year in a row, after
three years of decline between 2014 and- Meanwhile, renewables grew 14.5%,
but only accounted for a third of the
increase in total power generation.
“There is a growing mismatch between
societal demands for action on climate
change and the actual pace of progress,
with energy demand and carbon emis-
sions growing at their fastest rate for
years,” said Dale. “The world is on an
unsustainable path.”
“The longer carbon emissions continue
to rise, the harder and more costly will
be the necessary eventual adjustment to
net-zero carbon emissions,” concluded
Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive.
“As I have said before, this is not a race to
renewables, but a race to reduce carbon
emissions across many fronts.”REGIONAL CONSUMPTION BY FUEL 2018
PercentageNorth America S. & Cent. America Europe CIS Middle East Africa Asia Pacific100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0Coal
Renewables
HydroelectricityNuclear energy
Natural gas
Oiloilandgasmiddleeast.comIN NUMBERS
6
AUGUST 2019