“The more we go for clean energy, the more resistant we are to global conflicts because nobody can take solar or wind as a hostage,” International Energy Agency boss Dr Fatih Birol told Euronews.
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00:00We are entering the age of electricity.
00:03The more we go for clean energy, the more resistant we are to this crisis because nobody
00:09can take solar or wind as a hostage.
00:18Welcome to The Big Question, the series from Euronews where we speak to some of the biggest
00:22names in business.
00:24I'm Hannah Brown and today I'm joined by Dr Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the
00:28International Energy Agency.
00:30So thank you for joining us again.
00:32You released the World Energy Outlook 2024 in October, so can you tell me what has changed
00:36in the past year, what progress has been made?
00:39So at the World Energy Outlook, we see at least two major trends, which is important
00:47for Europeans but for the entire world.
00:50One of them is when it comes to oil and natural gas, which are key for our economies, for
00:57our industries.
00:59In the next years to come, we expect that the prices will see a downward pressure, which
01:06is good news for the economy because of a lot of new production supply will come and
01:14the demand, especially for oil, is weaker than in the past because Chinese economy is
01:20getting weaker and lots of electric cars are sold around the world.
01:25So this is one news which will make the hands of the energy-buying countries stronger than
01:31the energy-exporting countries, this is number one.
01:35The second one is that there was an industrial revolution centuries ago, and with this we
01:41had the age of coal, followed by the age of oil, we use a lot of oil, we still use oil,
01:48we will use more, but we see that we are entering the age of electricity.
01:54Lots of electricity is used for, again, the cars, in the developing world, more and more
02:00air conditioners are sold, they are a major source of electrification, and the AI chips
02:06demand a lot of electricity, so we are moving the age of electricity, and the good news
02:11is most of this electricity is going to come from clean energy, solar, wind, hydropower,
02:20geothermal, and nuclear power.
02:24As we are hurtling towards 2030, and all of the climate goals associated with it, how
02:32are the current global conflicts affecting the energy transition?
02:36In fact, climate change is a global problem.
02:40The emissions going to atmosphere from Jakarta, or from Lyon, or from Johannesburg, or from
02:48Stockholm, it has the same effect on everybody.
02:52We just don't have a passport, which means that we need a global solution, and international
03:00collaboration, countries coming together, which is the easiest way to solve this problem.
03:06But what I'm seeing today is there is a fragmentation among the countries, which is making life
03:14much more difficult to reach our climate goals.
03:17So I see this as a key barrier in front of having a global solution to one of the most
03:24important threats of our planet, and I very much hope that despite these political divisions
03:31among the countries, when it comes to climate change, countries are able to come together.
03:37We shouldn't forget that climate change is a problem of not only tomorrow, but also today.
03:44And thinking about today, how vulnerable is the current energy situation, and what would
03:48happen if more conflict emerges?
03:50I really hope that we will have less crisis, and the issue is the more we go for clean
03:56energy, with solar, wind, hydropower, the more resistant we are to this crisis, because
04:04nobody can take solar or wind as a hostage.
04:08You can do oil and gas, but not solar and wind and the others.
04:12So in fact, the more this energy security threats, as a result of the political tensions
04:20here and there, we see the stronger the push for clean energy is, not only for climate
04:27change reasons, but for energy security reasons.
04:30So this is an interesting dilemma.
04:32Interesting, yeah.
04:34And so you mentioned wind and solar and those green energies being a really good way of
04:39protecting us from future global crises.
04:42Is there any other green energies that you think are severely underdeveloped, that we
04:46really need to be thinking more about going forward?
04:48I think there is one, which will be more and more important in Europe, but also in other
04:53parts of the world, which is geothermal energy.
04:56And this can help us to generate electricity without interruption, it is not going to be
05:05bound by the availability of solar and wind with nature, but it is 24-7 there.
05:13And second, it is clean energy.
05:16So we are working to bring the cost of geothermal energy down, so that it also complements solar
05:22and wind.
05:23Brilliant.
05:24And looking forward, you know, next year you'll be putting up the next World Energy Outlook.
05:30What would you like to see change before then?
05:32I really want to see that the countries, instead of having difficulty with each other politically,
05:39they come together, especially when it comes to global issues, such as climate change,
05:45and try to get some consensus on how we go forward.
05:49This is the major, major challenge we see today, especially when it comes to support
05:55emerging and developing countries' clean energy financing there, because we see a lot
06:03of investment happening in clean energy, but a big chunk of it is happening in the advanced
06:09economies in China, only a small portion is happening in the emerging and developing world,
06:15where the bulk of the population lives today.
06:18And actually, on that topic of investment, how have we, in the past year, how have we
06:21seen the investments into clean energy develop?
06:24Oh, it's going well.
06:26So just to give you an example, six years ago, the entire investment of energy in the
06:34world was two trillion, one trillion for clean energy, one trillion fossil fuels.
06:41This year, the entire is three trillion, one still for fossil, but two for clean.
06:48So clean went from one to two, double the clean energy investment.
06:52That's very good news.
06:54Not high enough, but still a good increase, doubling, but the problem is most of them
06:59are in advanced economies in China.
07:02So if it's not enough, what does it need to be in order for us to achieve the goals that
07:07we have set?
07:08So what is lacking today is the financing clean energy in emerging and developing countries.
07:14Eighty-five percent of this two trillion is in advanced economies such as Europe, United
07:20States, Canada, and others, and China.
07:23Fifteen percent in the rest of the world where more than two-thirds of the global population
07:28lives.
07:29So we have to find ways to support those countries.
07:32Yes.
07:33Okay.
07:34Brilliant.
07:35Perfect.
07:36Well, thank you so much for your time today and for joining us again on The Big Question.
07:37It was a pleasure.
07:38Thank you very much.
07:39Thank you very much.
07:41And thank you for watching.
07:42Tune in next Monday for another brand new episode of The Big Question.
07:51Bye-bye.