A French think-tank REN21's report Renewables 2021 Global Status Report (pdf) says that fossil fuels accounted for 80.3% of energy consumption in 2009, compared with 80.2% in 2019. Over that period, "modern renewables" only grew from 8.7% to 11.2%.
The 2019 breakdown in the renewables category—based on data from the International Energy Agency (IEA)—was: 1% biofuels for transport; 2.4% wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and ocean power; 3.6% hydropower; and 4.2% biomass, solar, and geothermal heat.
"We are waking up to the bitter reality that the climate policy promises over the past 10 years have mostly been empty words," said REN21 executive director Rana Adib. "The share of fossil fuels in final energy consumption has not moved by an inch," Adib added. "Phasing them out and making renewables the new norm are the strongest actions we can take."
"2020 could have been a game-changer," the think tank noted in a statement (pdf). "Economies worldwide were ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic. Primary energy demand fell by 4%." However, Group of 20 (G20) countries, "the planet's biggest polluters, barely met or even missed their unambitious renewable energy targets."
The statement added, the new report "shows that we are nowhere near the necessary paradigm shift towards a clean, healthier, and more equitable energy future."
"Unfortunately the harsh lesson from the pandemic is that most governments did not use the unique opportunity to further curtail carbon pollution and break the resistance of the fossil fuel incumbents," said Stephan Singer, a senior adviser at Climate Action Network International. "What counts for them is corporate profit—neither the climate nor people's health."
The climate advocacy group 350.org declared that "rich governments are doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of what they need to do" and emphasized the need to not only invest in renewables but also urgently end the use of fossil fuels.
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