The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts a modest rebound in global electricity demand next year after a historic drop in 2020 due to the pandemic, in a report released on Monday.
Demand is expected to drop by 2% this year due to the economic and health crisis caused by Covid-19, a drop that had not been observed since the mid-twentieth century, according to the IEA.
However, this is less than what she had anticipated in the spring.
By way of comparison, this decline was only 0.6% in 2009 following the global financial crisis.
Only China is expected to do well among the big countries this year, with electricity demand up 2%, which is however well below the trend of recent years.
Global electricity demand is expected to grow by around 3%
“
With the recovery of the global economy in 2021, global electricity demand is expected to grow by around 3%,
” led by China and India, says the IEA in a report on the electricity market.
It is thus a “
modest
”
rebound
compared to that which had followed the financial crisis: in 2010, it was 7.2%.
The boom in renewables should continue next year, but also with a rebound in coal production (+ 3% after -5% in 2020), which is very polluting and harmful for the climate.
"
In emerging and developing economies, growth in demand is expected to exceed the increase in renewable and nuclear [capacity], leaving room for increased coal and gas production,
" notes the IEA.
This is expected to translate into an increase in CO2 emissions from the electricity system of around 2% in 2021, following a drop of around 5% this year.
