Nouvelles de l'AIE. News from the IEA.

Many falsehoods are being spread about the current global energy crisis. Our Executive Editor Fatih Birol rebutted three of the most damaging ones in a recent

opinion article

published by

the Financial Times

, stressing the importance of separating fact from fiction at this perilous time.  The first fallacy is that Russia is winning the energy battle. Russia may have benefitted from spikes in oil and gas prices triggered by its invasion of Ukraine, but any short-term gain from rising export revenue is more than offset by the long-term loss of both trust and markets. Moscow has alienated the European Union, its largest customer, and sanctions on its oil and gas sector will hurt its future ability to exploit its resources by cutting access to vital technologies. 

  The second mistaken idea is that the global energy crisis is a clean energy crisis. Dr Birol says energy policy makers don’t complain to him about relying too much on clean energy. On the contrary, they regret not having moved faster on solar, wind and energy efficiency. When people misleadingly blame clean energy and climate policies for today’s global energy crisis, they are, intentionally or not, moving the spotlight away from the real culprits – the gas supply crunch and Russia, he says. 

  The third false narrative is that the current energy crisis will set back efforts to tackle climate change. But today’s crisis is a reminder of the unsustainability of our reliance on fossil fuels and can be a key turning point to move faster towards a cleaner, more affordable and more secure energy system. The Inflation Reduction Act in the United States, the REPowerEU package in Europe and actions by other major economies are clear evidence of the gathering momentum behind clean energy. 

  There are tough challenges ahead, especially during the coming winter. But after winter comes spring, Dr Birol writes. The oil shocks of the 1970s spurred vital progress in energy efficiency, nuclear power, solar and wind – and there’s no reason today’s energy crisis can’t drive even greater positive changes.  

  Read the article on the Financial Times website if you have access to it – or on LinkedIn.

Clean energy now employs more people than fossil fuels worldwide

Clean energy industries now employ more people globally than fossil fuel sectors, according to the first edition of our new World Energy Employment report.    The ground-breaking report finds that the number of energy jobs worldwide has recovered from disruptions due to Covid 19, increasing to above its pre-pandemic level of more than 65 million people. The growth has been driven by hiring in clean energy sectors, while the oil and gas sector saw some of the largest declines in employment at the start of the pandemic and has yet to fully recover, even with a spur of recent projects for new liquified natural gas (LNG) projects.    The report is our first deep dive into global employment in the energy sector, providing an annual benchmark for employment across energy industries. It maps jobs by technology and value chains, and is intended to help policy makers and industry leaders understand the labour context of clean energy transitions.

To keep up with our very latest news and analysis, follow the IEA on social media ( LinkedIn , Twitter ) as well as our Executive Director Fatih Birol ( LinkedIn , Twitter )

Executive Director meets with Dutch Prime Minister and European energy leaders on crisis response

Dr Birol travelled to Brussels and The Hague last week for a series of meetings with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and several European energy leaders on the latest developments in the global energy crisis and the European response to it.    In Brussels, he had a breakfast meeting with European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans to discuss how the IEA and the Commission can work together to minimise the impacts of the crisis on economies and citizens while accelerating the clean energy transition. He then met with European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson where they focused on crisis response measures as well as deepening cooperation between our two organisations.    Dr Birol then travelled to The Hague for a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Rutte in which they both stressed the critical importance of EU solidarity on energy during the coming winter. He also met with Dutch Energy Minister Rob Jetten for a discussion that spanned a range of key topics including the prospects for vital energy technologies such as renewables, hydrogen and nuclear power.

Global oil demand growth continues to decelerate

A deteriorating economic environment and recurring Covid lockdowns in China are resulting in slower growth in global oil demand, although the markets for diesel and jet fuel remain exceptionally tight, according to our latest Oil Market Report .    Despite the increasingly sombre economic picture, this month’s report still forecasts that world oil demand will rise by 2 million barrels a day this year and by a further 2.1 million next year, only marginally lower than in last month's report.     At the same time, more oil supplies are hitting the market. IEA member countries released nearly 180 million barrels of government stocks from March through August, with a further 52 million barrels scheduled for the next two months. And global oil production rose by 790,000 barrels a day in August, with a strong recovery in Libya and smaller gains in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates offset by losses in Russia, Nigeria and Kazakhstan.    Read more in the overview of the Oil Market Report, including the latest data on OPEC+ countries’ crude oil production levels.

Why ESG is so important for critical mineral supplies

Clean energy technologies typically require much greater quantities of minerals and metals than their fossil fuel counterparts. As the world transitions towards net zero, the rapid shift to these technologies is expected to drive a significant increase in demand for many minerals.    Recent price spikes for many of these minerals have triggered a marked increase in investment in mineral exploration and production. Nevertheless, there remain significant risks that mineral supplies may not keep pace with what would be needed to meet global climate goals. Alongside supply concerns, there are also significant risks associated with the environmental, social and governance (ESG) impacts of mining projects. These include risks associated with geopolitical tensions, armed conflict, human rights violations, bribery and corruption, emissions, water stress and loss of biodiversity.    Our new commentary co-authored with colleagues from the OECD looks at how these risks could hamper global efforts to reach climate goals. It highlights that the first and most important reason to pay close attention to ESG risks is that it is the right thing to do. As the world makes progress towards global climate goals, there is growing recognition that energy transitions must also be people-centred and inclusive. Businesses, especially those engaged in supporting the transition, can make a positive contribution to sustainable development, but not without addressing potential adverse impacts linked to their activities or supply chains.    Read the commentary and go deeper by taking a look at the critical minerals section of our website.

The number of energy jobs worldwide has recovered from disruptions due to Covid-19, increasing above its pre-pandemic level of over 65 million people, or around 2% of the total labour force. Clean energy jobs are propelling this growth –  now accounting for over 50% of total energy employment. Clean energy jobs have also proven more resilient through the pandemic  – rebounding faster than those related to fossil fuels. Read more in our new World Energy Employment Report .

In the last edition of this newsletter, we highlighted the energy sector’s shortcomings in hiring and retaining female talent in its work force. There are on average 76% fewer women than men working in the energy sector, a much wider gap than the 8% difference found in the total workforce, according to a report we published in August. We've now followed up with our Gender and Energy Data Explorer , an interactive tool which allows you to drill down into gender data on energy sector employment, wages, senior management, entrepreneurship and innovation. The data can be divided by year, country, region, sector and technology.    As their ambitions for technological change in the energy sector rise, governments are increasingly asking how they can measure the performance of their energy innovation systems, prioritise technologies and benchmark progress internationally. However, in most countries, information about private energy innovation is much less readily available and less reliable than for the public sector. In addition, the available approaches to filling this gap have never before been compiled in a single place. By presenting a wide variety of different approaches to tracking clean energy innovation in the business sector, our new report on Tracking Clean Energy Innovation in the Business Sector demonstrates that governments and other analysts already have a range of practical options open to them.

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