Pandemic risks slowing the energy transition

Beyond the forecast of a ‘new normal’ that accelerates the move to a lower-carbon future, there is also a scenario where change is retarded

Decarbonisation of the energy mix is receiving a boost from the recent collapse of the global economy—with investment in fossil fuel production being hit harder by Covid-19 than renewables, based on the IEA’s latest World Energy Investment report. But, in a post-pandemic world, the global energy transition is likely to be slower than it would otherwise have been for three reasons: greater geopolitical rivalry; fewer financial resources; and lower oil and gas prices. Geopolitical challenges America’s unipolar moment following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was relatively brief. A new authoritarian bloc—in which China and Russia were most prominent, if not always allies—began to emer