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The International Energy Agency’s ‘World Energy Outlook 2011’ Report

From The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace:

Carnegie’s Energy and Climate Program hosted the U.S. launch of the World Energy Outlook 2011, the flagship annual report of the International Energy Agency (IEA). Maria van der Hoeven, IEA executive director, Fatih Birol, the IEA’s chief economist who oversees the World Energy Outlook, and Daniel Poneman, U.S. deputy secretary of energy, discussed the key findings of the report and its projections. Carnegie Endowment’s President Jessica Mathews opened the conversation, and Carnegie’s Adnan Vatansever moderated.

Troubling Trends and Increasing Costs of Inaction

The World Energy Outlook 2011 provides insight into global energy markets and trends for today and the next 24 years. The report lays out the urgent need to combat climate change and the dire consequences of its refusal, said Mathews. Economic concerns have diverted attention from energy policy and limited the means of intervention, added both van der Hoeven and Birol.

Birol highlighted several worrying trends from the report:

• To ensure a low carbon future, there is still time to act, but the window of opportunity is closing.
• CO2 emissions rebounded to a record high in 2010.
• Energy efficiency of the global economy worsened for the second straight year.
• Spending on oil imports is near record highs.

Check out the rest of the post here. Below are two key graphs drawn from the report.

(Graphic credit: IEA via The Guardian)