HSE & Sustainability

IEA Says Energy Crisis Sparked by Ukraine War Will Speed Up Green Transition

The drop in Russian fossil fuel exports after its Ukraine invasion will transform the global energy landscape for decades and can help hasten a green energy transition, the International Energy Agency said.

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Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, speaks in Singapore on 25 October.
Source: Isabel Kua/Reuters

The drop in Russian fossil fuel exports after its Ukraine invasion this year will transform the global energy landscape for decades and can help to hasten a green energy transition, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

The IEA's annual World Energy Outlook acknowledges the economic hit from reduced supplies of Russian oil, natural gas, and coal but is keeping an environmental best-case scenario in which no investment in new fossil fuel projects is needed.

The IEA's report said the global energy crisis is causing profound and long-lasting changes that could hasten the transition to a more sustainable and secure energy system.

"Energy markets and policies have changed as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, not just for the time being but for decades to come," said IEA executive director Fatih Birol.

"The energy world is shifting dramatically before our eyes. Government responses around the world promise to make this a historic and definitive turning point towards a cleaner, more affordable, and more secure energy system", Birol added.

Short-term gaps created by the reduction in fossil fuel supplies from Russia will need to be plugged from elsewhere.

The strongest candidates are projects with "short lead times," which rapidly bring oil and gas supplies to market without locking in dependency.

Global clean energy investment is set to rise to more than $2 trillion a year by 2030, up by half from current levels, while "international energy markets undergo a profound reorientation in the 2020s as countries adjust to the rupture of Russia/Europe (energy) flows, the IEA said.

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