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The momentum for low-carbon hydrogen is growing in Latin America, with many countries currently developing long-term hydrogen strategies and a project pipeline of more than 25 projects, including several gigawatt-scale projects to export it beyond the region. In this report we analyse both the region’s potential to play a major role in the future low-carbon hydrogen landscape, and the role that low-carbon hydrogen could play in Latin America’s own clean energy transitions.
Low-carbon hydrogen deployment depends on many technologies that are still under development, and considerable cost reductions will be needed to enable it to reduce global emissions in applications that may not be suitable for director electrification. The next decade will be crucial for the long-term promise of lowcarbon hydrogen in Latin America, and much can be done today to develop and demonstrate emerging technologies and prepare the ground for their future scaling up. We conclude the report with a series of six recommendations for policy makers in Latin America to harness the potential of low-carbon hydrogen in the region.
Energy service companies (ESCOs) deliver energy efficiency projects that are financed through the resulting energy cost savings. ESCOs can thus unlock energy efficiency action by addressing barriers related to funding and technical expertise. Despite their potential, many governments still struggle to stimulate development of a market for ESCOs. Evolving Energy Service Companies in People’s Republic of China, (“China” hereafter) provides an overview of how China has built the world’s largest and fastest growing ESCO market over the past decades. This report highlights how the government’s strategic measures to set up key agencies for ESCOs, engage the State-Owned Enterprises, and encourage market play by bringing in commercial players, in line with China’s socio-economic transition, have been critical to making the Chinese ESCO model a success. Looking ahead, ESCOs in China continue to evolve, for example by using digital technologies to make their businesses more sustainable and lucrative. Based on the insights gained from a survey of major ESCOs in China, the report highlights the challenges and opportunities of digitalisation and provides some policy insights.
The Global Hydrogen Review is a new annual publication by the International Energy Agency to track progress in hydrogen production and demand, as well as in other critical areas such as policy, regulation, investments, innovation and infrastructure development.
The report is an output of the Clean Energy Ministerial Hydrogen Initiative (CEM H2I) and is intended to inform energy sector stakeholders on the status and future prospects of hydrogen while serving as an input to the discussions at the Hydrogen Energy Ministerial Meeting (HEM) organised by Japan. It examines what international progress on hydrogen is needed to help address climate change – and compares real-world developments with the stated ambitions of government and industry and with key actions under the Global Action Agenda launched at the HEM in 2019.
Focusing on hydrogen’s usefulness for meeting climate goals, this Review aims to help decision makers fine-tune strategies to attract investment and facilitate deployment of hydrogen technologies while also creating demand for hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels.
In September 2020, President Xi Jinping announced that the People’s Republic of China will “aim to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060”. Amid the growing wave of governments around the world setting targets for reaching net zero emissions, no pledge is as significant as China’s. The country is the world’s largest energy consumer and carbon emitter, accounting for one-third of global CO2 emissions. The pace of China’s emissions reductions will be an important factor in global efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 °C.
This report, An Energy Sector Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality in China, responds to the Chinese government’s invitation to the International Energy Agency to cooperate on long-term strategies by setting out pathways for reaching carbon neutrality in China’s energy sector. It shows that achieving carbon neutrality fits with China’s broader development goals, such as increasing prosperity and shifting towards innovation-driven growth. The first pathway in this Roadmap – the Announced Pledges Scenario – reflects the enhanced targets China announced in 2020. The report also explores the implications of a faster transition – the Accelerated Transition Scenario – and the socio-economic benefits it would bring beyond those associated with reducing the impact of climate change.
This Roadmap examines the technology challenges and opportunities that this new phase of the clean energy transition will bring for China’s development, with a focus on long-term needs. The technology innovations required in the Chinese context are a key in-depth focus area. The report concludes with a series of policy considerations to inform China’s energy debate.
This summary report provides an overview of the impact that standards and labelling programmes are having on the energy efficiency of energy-using appliances and equipment in countries around the world. It draws on a global review of nearly 400 published reports, studies and papers covering more than 100 products – representing one of the most comprehensive datasets assembled on the topic to date. It confirms that improvements to the energy efficiency of appliances and equipment are some of the lowest-cost options available today for reducing energy consumption and associated emissions, with typical society benefit/cost ratios of 4:1. Programmes that have been operating the longest, such as those in the United States and the European Union, are estimated to deliver annual reductions of around 15% of total current electricity consumption. These programmes provide net financial benefits to individuals and the community. Other benefits, including employment, product innovation, water savings, improvements in air quality and the reduction of public expenditure on health, add to the case for stronger standards and labels.
Africa’s energy future matters to the world. That is why the International Energy Agency (IEA) is substantially expanding its engagement in African countries and with African regional partners. Since 2019, the IEA has initiated a programme of work in the form of enhanced institutional engagement, as well as an increase in technical activities in support of the energy strategies and objectives of African countries.
The IEA aims to support African countries with their transformative energy sector priorities and the implementation of clean energy transitions in the region by sharing expertise to enhance data, inform decision-making and guide policy implementation. This engagement takes place in coordination with local, regional and other international entities. The aim is to support a sustainable and an accelerated regional energy system transformation using a varied mix of technologies, in order to help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7), promote increased energy security and affordability, and accelerate the development of clean energy systems across Africa. As the Covid-19 crisis continues to affect economies and energy systems across the world, the IEA aims to support African countries in their efforts to stimulate economic recovery from the crisis in which the energy sector transformation plays a catalytic role.
Ammonia is the starting point for all mineral nitrogen fertilisers, forming a bridge between the nitrogen in the air and the food we eat. Around 70% of ammonia is used to make fertilisers, with the remainder used for a wide range of industrial applications, such as plastics, explosives and synthetic fibres. Ammonia may also serve as a low-carbon energy vector in the future, but that application is not considered within the core analytical scope of this technology roadmap. Ammonia production accounts for around 2% of total final energy consumption and 1.3% of CO2 emissions from the energy system. An increasingly numerous and affluent global population will lead to growth in ammonia production, during a period in which governments around the world have declared that emissions from the energy system must head towards net zero.
This technology roadmap uses scenario analysis to explore three possible futures for ammonia production. In the Stated Policies Scenario the industry follows current trends, making incremental improvements but falling well short of a sustainable trajectory. In the Sustainable Development Scenario the sector adopts the technologies and policies required to put it on a pathway aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario describes a trajectory for the ammonia industry that is compatible with reaching net zero emissions globally for the energy system by 2050. The roadmap concludes with a chapter outlining the necessary roles and actions of key stakeholders, namely governments, producers, and financial and research institutions, and establishes milestones and decision points.
This report presents a comprehensive assessment of the policy instruments adopted by the Netherlands to reach carbon neutrality in its manufacturing sector by 2050. The analysis illustrates the strength of combining a strong commitment to raising carbon prices with ambitious technology support, uncovers the pervasiveness of competitiveness provisions, and highlights the trade-off between short-term emissions cuts and longer-term technology shift. The Netherlands’ carbon levy sets an ambitious price trajectory to 2030, but is tempered by extensive preferential treatment to energy-intensive users, yielding a highly unequal carbon price across firms and sectors. The country’s technology support focuses on the cost-effective deployment of low-carbon options, which ensures least-cost decarbonisation in the short run but favours relatively mature technologies. The report offers recommendations for policy adjustments to reach the country’s carbon neutrality objective, including the gradual removal of exemptions, enhanced support for emerging technologies and greater visibility over future infrastructure plans.
IEA Key World Energy Statistics (KWES) is an introduction to energy statistics, providing top-level numbers across the energy mix, from supply and demand, to prices and research budgets, including outlooks, energy indicators and definitions.
KWES is part of the IEA's annual edition of the world’s most comprehensive series of energy databases and data services, which include World Energy Statistics and Balances and the full range of fuel information data services.
Against the backdrop of turbulent markets and a crucial meeting of the COP26 conference on climate change in Glasgow, the 2021 World Energy Outlook (WEO) provides an indispensable guide to the opportunities, benefits and risks ahead at this vital moment for clean energy transitions.
The WEO is the energy world’s most authoritative source of analysis and projections. This flagship publication of the IEA has appeared every year since 1998. Its objective data and dispassionate analysis provide critical insights into global energy supply and demand in different scenarios and the implications for energy security, climate targets and economic development.
Les objectifs en matière d’égalité femmes-hommes et d’environnement se renforcent mutuellement, avec des progrès lents sur les actions environnementales affectant la réalisation de l'égalité femmes-hommes, et vice versa. Les progrès vers les objectifs de développement durable (ODD) nécessite des actions ciblées et cohérentes. Cependant, les complémentarités et les compromis entre l'égalité femmes-hommes et la durabilité environnementale sont à peine documentés dans le cadre des ODD. Basé sur le cadre des ODD, ce rapport propose une vue d’ensemble de ces liens, en examinant les déficits de données et d'éléments factuels, les bénéfices économiques et de bien-être, ainsi que les aspects de gouvernance et de justice. Il examine neuf ODD liés à l'environnement (2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 et 15) à travers un prisme genre-environnement, en utilisant des données disponibles, des études de cas, des enquêtes et d'autres éléments. Il démontre que les femmes partout dans le monde sont affectées de manière disproportionnée par le changement climatique, la déforestation, la dégradation des terres, la désertification, la raréfaction de l'eau et l'insuffisance de l'assainissement. Ces inégalités entre femmes et hommes ont été encore exacerbées par le COVID-19. Le rapport conclut qu’une approche sexospécifique des domaines clés comme d’utilisation des terres, de gestion de l'eau, de l'énergie et des transports, entre autres, permettrait la promotion d’un développement économique plus durable et plus inclusif, et d’accroître le bien-être pour tous. Reconnaissant les multiples dimensions et interactions entre l'égalité femmes-hommes et l'environnement, il propose un cadre d'action intégré, tenant compte à la fois de la croissance inclusive et des considérations environnementales aux niveaux local, national et international.
Winter 2021/22 opens with record high seasonal gas prices, as the combination of a strong recovery in demand, extreme weather events and unplanned supply outages have led to tighter markets. Such tensions are a reminder that security of supply remains a major topic for gas markets, only a year after a record drop in demand and oversupplied markets.
The succession of market events over the past year further illustrates the critical role flexibility plays in ensuring security and continuity of supply. Flexible liquefied natural gas trade – alongside other major components of the gas flexibility toolbox such as interconnectors and storage capacity – has been and remains instrumental to adjusting to sharp and unexpected demand swings (both up and down). Delivering flexible and yet secure supply is likely to become more complex for systems in transition as they switch to low-carbon gas to reach net zero emission objectives. Regulators should therefore adopt a prudent and scalable approach to market design to ensure security of supply in a transitioning gas system.
This new quarterly report includes a review of gas security in light of recent supply-related developments, and an analysis of short-term gas market evolution to 2022.
Lithuania’s rapid economic growth has increased many environmental pressures. The country has declared ambitious medium- and long-term climate change mitigation goals. However, existing policies will not be enough to meet them. Total greenhouse gas emissions have not declined over the last decade, while those from transport have been rising rapidly. Lithuania needs to build on its impressive progress in moving away from landfilling to reduce waste generation and steer towards a circular economy. Water pollution with nutrients from the increased use of fertilisers and insufficiently treated wastewater must also be addressed. These efforts require improved integration of environmental considerations into sectoral policies and a whole-of-government approach to environmental management.
Lithuania is implementing a series of positive changes in environment-related taxation. However, the trend of declining public environmental expenditure should be reversed. One priority area is additional investment in public transport and improvements in cycling and walking conditions that would help steer user behaviour towards sustainable transport modes.
This is the first OECD Environmental Performance Review of Lithuania. It evaluates progress towards green growth and sustainable development, with a special chapter focusing on sustainable mobility.
Climate action in cities is essential for achieving ambitious net-zero emissions goals. Cities account for more than 50% of the global population, 80% of global GDP, two-thirds of global energy consumption and more than 70% of annual global carbon emissions. These factors are expected to grow significantly in the coming decades: it is anticipated that by 2050 more than 70% of the world’s population will live in cities, resulting in massive growth in demand for urban energy infrastructure.
Smart cities represent an important opportunity to reduce energy consumption while meeting service demand, improving grid stability and improving the quality of life for all. Next-generation energy systems leverage big data and digital technologies to collect and analyse data in real time and manage city services more efficiently. These solutions are transforming the energy landscape by creating new synergies to reduce emissions, improve energy efficiency and enhance resilience.
Local governments are in a unique position to deliver on the net-zero emissions agenda. In this report we illustrate the wide range of opportunities, challenges and policy solutions that can help city-level governments capture the significant value in efficient and smart digital energy systems, no matter their unique context. Our focus is on ways national governments can help cities overcome barriers to progress and accelerate clean energy transitions using digitalisation.
This report examines the evolving nature of energy security in the context of clean energy transitions in general and on the pathway to net-zero emissions in particular. It highlights emerging energy security concerns and provides recommendations to foster international collaboration, notably within the Group of Twenty (G20).
In the context of Italy’s G20 presidency, its Ministry of Economic Development requested the International Energy Agency (IEA) to undertake this Security of Clean Energy Transitions report. It aims to support discussions among the G20 countries and to provide insights and direction for the review and update of the G20 energy collaboration principles, which were endorsed at the G20 Brisbane Leaders’ Summit in 2014.
Given their sheer magnitude, the payments made by companies for the purchase of oil, gas and minerals from governments or state-owned enterprises are of significant public interest. However, only a few commodity trading companies regularly publicly disclose information in respect of their payments to governments for the purchase of these publicly-owned commodities. This report makes a case for the development of a common global standard on transparency of payments that trading hubs, home governments and industry associations can use to ensure consistency, comparability and usability of data, building on the 2019 EITI Standard. Complementary measures by host governments and SOEs are necessary to set shared expectations across jurisdictions, including in producing countries. These include the adoption of disclosure policies as well as the inclusion of disclosure obligations in commodity sales contracts to set clear expectations on transparency of payments, and avoid potential conflicting requirements and bilateral negotiations.
The OECD has been working on water policy reform in the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia for over 20 years. Three of the countries within the region, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine have signed Association Agreements with the European Union. These agreements provide a framework for deeper political ties and stronger economic links with the EU and include commitments for approximation towards EU legislation including the Water Framework Directive.
Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine have ambitious long-term strategic plans for their water sectors, which include fulfilment of requirements under the Association Agreements and international commitments including the Sustainable Development Goals. The water policy outlooks baseline the country policy framework and current performance and then define the long-term vision and aspirations to 2030. The outlooks aim to demonstrate the likelihood of the current policy framework to achieve the long-term objectives and desired future state of the water sector, and include identification of opportunities for improving policy coherence and policies that have the opportunity to improve the likelihood of success.
Cette édition du rapport du Secrétaire général de l'OCDE aux ministres présente les principales réalisations de l'OCDE en 2020. Elle met l’accent sur les efforts de l’Organisation pour contribuer à la gestion de la crise du COVID-19 et ouvrir la voie à une reprise qui soit à la fois plus forte, plus inclusive, plus résiliente et plus verte. Elle décrit les travaux de l’OCDE dans tout un éventail de domaines essentiels tels que la santé, l’emploi, les inégalités, l'économie, la fiscalité, l'éducation, l'environnement, et bien d’autres encore. Ce rapport présente aussi les activités du Secrétaire général et de son cabinet, ainsi que celles des directions, des Secrétariats des entités appartenant à la famille OCDE et des partenaires sociaux de l'OCDE.
L'OCDE s'efforce de trouver des solutions fondées sur des données probantes à toute une série de défis sociaux, économiques et environnementaux, en promouvant « Des politiques meilleures pour une vie meilleure ». L’OCDE constitue l’une des sources les plus importantes et les plus fiables de recherche et de données statistiques comparables au monde. Elle fait office de pionnier pour l’élaboration de nouvelles trames narratives et de nouvelles initiatives à l’échelle mondiale, mais aussi de « laboratoire d’action », prêt à soutenir ses membres et partenaires grâce à ses données, ses normes et ses conseils stratégiques.
When the IEA published its first Electricity Market Report in December 2020, large parts of the world were in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and its resulting lockdowns. Half a year later, electricity demand around the world is rebounding or even exceeding pre-pandemic levels, especially in emerging and developing economies. But the situation remains volatile, with Covid-19 still causing disruptions. Despite record additions of renewable generation capacity, fossil fuel-based generation and associated emissions are rising along with electricity demand. This mid-2021 edition of the Electricity Market Report highlights recent developments and forecasts demand, capacity, supply and emissions through 2022. The report also analyses electricity market prices and electricity security.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) regularly conducts in-depth peer reviews of the energy policies of its member countries. This process supports energy policy development and encourages the exchange of international best practices and experiences.
Since the last IEA review in 2015, Spain has solved a long-standing issue of tariff deficits in its electricity and gas sectors and closed all of its coal mines, which has allowed it to place the energy transition at the forefront of its energy and climate change policies.
The current Spanish framework for energy and climate is based on the 2050 objectives of national climate neutrality, 100% renewable energy in the electricity mix, and 97% renewable energy in the total energy mix. As such, it is centred on the massive development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, electrification and renewable hydrogen.
Notwithstanding its considerable progress to date on decarbonising and increasing the share of renewables in the electricity sector, Spain’s total energy mix is still heavily dominated by fossil fuels. Notably, the transport, industry and buildings sectors all have considerable work ahead of them to meet the country’s targets for decarbonisation and higher shares of renewables.
When all of Spain’s plans and strategies are implemented, a completely different energy sector will emerge in which fossil fuels are no longer dominant and end-user sectors are mostly electrified. Such a transformed energy landscape will come with new challenges and will provide new opportunities.
In this report, the IEA provides energy policy recommendations to help Spain effectively manage this transformation of its energy sector.