While the world leaders vowed to reduce the use of fossil fuels and of non-sustainable energy sources the war in Ukraine has meant countries going back to using oil and sometimes coal.
After the corona virus pandemic struck in 2020 investment in oil and natural gas projects declined by 30 percent however demand for oil is projected to not only reach the levels of pre-covid but to also reach records. This is because although companies have started to drill less, partly due to investors wary of unprofitable projects, prices have begun to rise making investors interested again. High oil prices are not always bad for clean energy, for example electric cars sales were 20 percent of all new sales in Europe and 15 percent in China.
Due to the war, utility bills prices have risen sharply. This is due to multiple reasons, demand has risen since the pandemic, lower energy output from Brazilian and Chinese dams and most importantly the war in Ukraine. Due to the wests sending weapons and supplies to Ukraine, Russia has decided to either completely cut off gas or to sell it at prices way over the normal ones. Some nations have opted to set clean-energy measures while others, like Poland, have started to use coal.
Coal is twice as worse compared to gas when burned for electricity which is worsening global warming. Global coal consumption reached a record in 2021 and is set to rise further. This is partly because electricity demand is rising in countries like China and India, while investment in renewable energies has not kept up.
High natural gas prices have also spurred many electric utilities to turn to coal. For example, the United States is the largest exporter of natural gas. However higher prices have made it so that some utilities have started up their coal plants. Last year coal emissions have risen by 17 percent after steadily falling for the last couple of years making the transition to cleaner energy more difficult.
While climate change policies are not to blame for this energy crisis, the road to zero emissions will not be smooth, said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency. He also says that while some countries have cut back on oil and gas, the energy demand is still rising and nations have not invested enough on cleaner energy sources like wind, solar or nuclear power. Mr. Birol also claims that many countries will still depend on fossil fuels, so they will need to take steps to prepare for market disruptions such as gas storage in Europe.