Fostering Effective Energy Transition

The 2021 Energy Transition Index (ETI) report highlights a decade of acceleration in renewable energy and energy access, though global emissions continued to rise through 2019. While 92 of 115 benchmarked countries improved their ETI scores, only 13 showed consistent, above-average gains, illustrating the complexity of sustaining progress. The report emphasizes that the transition must be 'just' to avoid leaving communities adrift and calls for a six-fold increase in annual clean energy investments by 2050 to meet the 1.5°C Paris Agreement goal. Key challenges include the continued absolute growth of coal generation and the need to decarbonize hard-to-abate industrial sectors.

• Global energy transition progress is uneven; while aggregate ETI scores rose for countries representing 86% of global energy supply and 88% of CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, only 13 of 115 benchmarked countries achieved consistent, above-average performance improvements over the decade.
• Energy access has improved significantly, with the number of people lacking electricity falling to 770 million by 2019, yet 75% of this population now resides in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to increase the number of people without access in 2020.
• Environmental sustainability gains are contradictory: global energy intensity decreased by 15% between 2010 and 2018, but the carbon intensity of the energy mix remained broadly flat over the same period.
• Despite a decline in coal's share of the global electricity mix, absolute electricity generation from coal has followed an upward trajectory since 2010, with consumption increasing by 1.2% (69 million tonnes) in the Asia-Pacific region in 2019.
• To limit global warming to 1.5°C, annual investments in clean energy and energy efficiency must increase by a factor of six by 2050 compared to 2015 levels.
• The energy transition faces significant systemic risks, including a potential 500% increase in the production of rare minerals like graphite, lithium, and cobalt by 2050, and rising cybersecurity threats, with the number of groups targeting the energy sector increasing from 87 in 2015 to 155 by 2019.
• A 'just transition' is essential for resilience, requiring policies to support workforces in fossil fuel sectors, as the shift to sustainable practices is projected to create 18 million net jobs by 2030 but may cause short-term labour market dislocations.
• Global investment in the energy transition reached $501 billion in 2020, but remains heavily concentrated in the power sector and a few economies, specifically China and the United States.

APA

World Economic Forum (2021). Fostering Effective Energy Transition. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Fostering_Effective_Energy_Transition_2021.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Fostering Effective Energy Transition. 2021. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Fostering_Effective_Energy_Transition_2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Fostering Effective Energy Transition |date=April 2021 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Fostering_Effective_Energy_Transition_2021.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2021fostering, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Fostering Effective Energy Transition}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2021}, month = apr, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Fostering_Effective_Energy_Transition_2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }