Over the hump: Have we reached the peak of carbon emissions?

ABSTRACT

Recent news reports have focused on the so-called collapse of coal, which indeed is in free-fall in many nations. And it’s not limited to the news media; an International Energy Agency report said “… Only renewables are holding up during the previously unheard-of slump in electricity use.” Coal use is down to record low-levels in the United States. This decrease is also underway for oil and natural gas. Meanwhile, new solar and wind projects are up 4 percent since the start of the year, and the most affordable projects worldwide over the past three years have all been renewable energy installations. These cost trends, and the slow-down in demand for fossil-fuels that came with the COVID-19-induced recession tipped the balance in favor of clean, renewable energy – at least temporarily. But from here on in, much depends on what we do next: How will we respond to this accidental and costly emergency? Will we double-down on pollution and the racial injustices that are inherent with the use of fossil fuels? Or will we use this hiatus to craft a new, green, and job-creating economy?

KEYWORDS:

• Peak carbon
• carbon emissions
• climate change
• global warming
• climate crisis
• fossil fuel subsidies

Acknowledgment

Discussions with Dr. Greg P. Smestad of Sol Ideas Technology Development on the employment multipliers listed in Table 6 are greatly appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

Daniel M. Kammen

Daniel M. Kammen is a professor, chairs the Energy and Resources Group, and is the founding director of the 290 Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (http://rael.berkeley.edu) at the University of California at Berkeley. Twitter: @dan_kammen