Can we move away from fossil fuels in the next decade  ?


According to the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and a consensus statement from over 97% of the world’s climate scientists, burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation is the largest contributor to human driven climate change. Fossil fuels are responsible for over 75% of Greenhouse gas emissions and over 97% of carbon dioxide emissions. These reports have also stressed that there’s an immediate need to move away from these fuels in the near future. 

The challenge to this paradigm shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is a combination of social and political barriers, the cost for new infrastructure to manage new energy portfolios , fossil fuel phase-out may lead to an increment in electricity prices and challenges to energy storage. 

In April 2022, McKinsey published their Energy Insights Global Energy Perspective report, where they highlighted a rapid increase in traditional energy ( Oil and Gas) over the next 5 years, however the report also shows a rise in renewable energy and Hydrogen following that 5 year mark. While each adoption of this will differ in each country, the consensus is we will have a mixed energy portfolio (renewables and traditional) for the next 3 decades. The data also suggests as we see technology improve for more sustainable management of assets, batteries and resources, we will see a decline in the extraction , transportation  and consumption of fossil fuels.