Peak fossil fuel consumption will be reached this decade, but it will no longer be in time to prevent global warming of 2.4 degrees Celsius, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned, as quoted by Notícias ao Minuto.

In a report, the IEA pointed out that the accumulated warming so far is already around 1.2 degrees and is expected to double by the end of the century with the current dynamics.

This is despite the fact that the transition to clean energy is underway and the only question is how long it will take to materialize, stressed the agency's executive director, Fatih Birol.

The IEA admitted that it still considers it "possible, but very difficult" to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, the goal that the international community set with the Paris Agreement in 2015.

The agency stressed that meeting this target would require a much sharper reduction in the use of fossil fuels.

Although the peak in coal consumption should already have been reached and the peak in oil and natural gas consumption should happen this decade, fossil fuels will still account for around 73% of global energy demand in 2030.

On the other hand, the IEA stressed that the transition to electric cars is happening faster than expected and predicted that 40% of the cars sold in 2030 will be powered by electricity.

The agency also predicts that by the end of the decade, renewable energies will account for 80% of new electricity generation capacity, with solar energy accounting for more than half.

Annual policies allow the installation of solar panels with a capacity to produce 500 gigawatts per year, but the IEA has guaranteed that the world could manufacture and install solar panels with a capacity to produce 1,200 gigawatts per year by 2030.

In other words, by strengthening electricity grids and electricity storage, much more production from renewable sources could be integrated, which would reduce the use of fossil fuels more quickly, especially coal and especially in China.

China, which in the last decade has absorbed almost two-thirds of the additional demand for oil and one-third of the demand for gas, as well as being the main consumer of coal, is now a clean energy powerhouse, the agency stressed.

Demand for fossil fuels and the associated emissions will begin to fall from 2025 onwards and it will be India that will drive the growth in energy consumption, followed by Southeast Asia and Africa.

The IEA argued that in order to reduce the use of fossil fuels, it will be crucial to find funding for the development of low-emission technologies in these regions.