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Scaling Up Transition Finance Financial institutions and transition finance
A complementary source of finance for transitions Transition finance rests on a practical partnership between corporates and financiers. Successful transitions need finance that goes where the emissions are; this means moving beyond the top performers and working with corporates with material environmental footprints that commit to transition strategies. A common alternative strategy, in which financial institutions simply shift emissions off their balance sheets, creates “financial carbon leakage” and does not reduce real-economy emissions.An IEA survey of financial institutions revealed that differences in regional taxonomies and frameworks pose challenges for cross-border financing. At the same time, it highlighted…
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Fossil Fuel Subsidies
This approach compares average end-user prices paid by consumers with reference prices that correspond to the full cost of supply. The price gap is the amount by which an end-use price is short of the reference price. Its existence indicates the presence of a subsidy. In a given economy, the basic calculation of subsidies for a product is:Subsidy = (Reference price - End-user price) × Units consumedThese calculations require substantial data. End-user price and consumption data are drawn from IEA data and, where necessary, from government sources and other reports. The estimates are also sensitive to reference…
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Gaining an Edge Summary for policymakers
Energy efficiency delivers more than energy savings and emission reductions – it can also improve the competitiveness of countries and firms. From increased profitability to job creation, energy efficiency helps firms compete amid high costs, growing demand, and rising trade pressures. In today’s global context, energy efficiency is not only a matter of energy policy, but also of economic policy.Today the world’s industries can produce nearly 20% more value for a given amount of energy than they could two decades ago. This progress has yielded significant benefits at the country level. G20 countries have doubled their economic output…
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Global Energy and Climate Model Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS)
The Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS) has a long pedigree in the International Energy Agency (IEA) family of scenarios. It was introduced in 2019 with this name, but it has much in common with the previous New Policies Scenario that dates back to the 2010 edition of the World Energy Outlook (WEO). The intention of this scenario is to reflect the prevailing direction of travel for the energy system based on a detailed reading of the latest policy settings in countries around the world. It takes into account specific energy, climate and related industrial policies that have been adopted or put…
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Electricity Mid-Year Update 2025 Demand: Global electricity use to grow strongly in 2025 and 2026
Global electricity demand is forecast to increase by an average annual 3.3% in 2025 and by 3.7% in 2026, a moderation from 4.4% in 2024 but still some of the highest growth rates observed over the last decade. This is a slight downward revision from our previous forecast in February 2025 of 4% growth for this year and 3.8% in 2026. The change is partly due to the IMF's downgrade of the global GDP growth outlook compared with its January 2025 update amid elevated uncertainty surrounding trade tariffs and economic prospects. Despite these downside risks…
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Tinne Van der Straeten
Minister of Energy, Belgium.
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Sheltering From Oil Shocks Air transport fuels
Jet fuel demand accounts for around 7% of global oil demand. Jet fuel markets look to be particularly vulnerable to an extended loss of Middle East production and exports, given limited flexibility elsewhere to increase output. 8. Avoid air travel where alternative options exist Description: Travel for work accounts for a large share (between 20% and 40%) of aviation activity. In many cases, travel for work can be temporarily substituted by virtual meetings. A reduction of around 40% of flights taken for work purposes is feasible in the short term, while maintaining productivity.Impact: Very high voluntary participation to work…
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World Energy Outlook 2022 Outlook for gaseous fuels
Global demand for natural gas held up better than demand for other fossil fuels during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, and then increased by 5% in 2021, double its average growth rate over the past decade. A dearth of new projects, weather-related increases in demand, LNG outages and reduced Russian exports tightened the global gas supply balance from mid-2021 and put upward pressure on prices, especially in Europe where the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark rose from less than USD 10 per million British thermal units (MBtu) in the first-half of 2021 to over 30 USD…
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Stavroula Evangelopoulou
Former Energy Technology Analyst – Hydrogen.
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World Energy Investment 2026 Regional dashboards
Despite the destabilising effect of the Middle East conflict, capital flows to the energy sector are expected to grow to USD 3.4 trillion in 2026, a 5% rise from 2025, mainly from China, the US, and the EU. Clean energy investment grows to USD 2.2 trillion, almost double that of fossil fuels. Investment in clean energy increases year-on-year by 7% in advanced economies and in China, while 4% in other emerging markets, reflecting regional differences with a shared focus on energy security.
