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China's Contribution to Renewable Energy Growth Exceeded

2020 was the most turbulent year in modern global energy history.

BP released the 70th edition of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy (hereinafter referred to as the "Yearbook") on July 8.

In 2020, both primary energy consumption and carbon emissions from energy use experienced their largest declines since World War II. Renewable energy continued to grow strongly, with wind and solar energy achieving their largest annual growth rates ever.

Primary energy consumption fell by 4.5% in 2020, the largest drop since 1945.

The decline in oil consumption accounted for nearly three-quarters of the net reduction in primary energy consumption and was the main factor causing this decline.

Natural gas prices fell to multi-year lows, but its share of primary energy continued to rise, reaching a record high of 24.7%.

The Yearbook also mentioned that although total energy demand was declining, wind, solar and hydropower generation all increased. In 2020, wind and solar installed capacity increased rapidly, reaching a total of 238 gigawatts, 50% higher than the historical peak.

Looking at the situation in various countries, the United States, India and Russia had the largest declines in energy consumption. China had the highest increase in energy consumption (2.1%) and was one of the few countries where energy demand was on the rise last year.

Carbon emissions from energy use fell by more than 6% in 2020, the largest drop since 1945.

bp Group Chief Economist Spencer Dale said: "2020 will be one of the most shocking and challenging years in the series of "Yearbooks", just as this year has had a profound impact on all of us. The global lockdown has had a huge impact on energy markets, and the oil industry has been particularly hard hit due to a sharp drop in traffic and transportation demand." He said, "It is encouraging that in 2020, the share of renewable energy in global total electricity generation achieved the fastest growth in history. This increase is mainly due to the decline in the share of coal-fired power generation.

The strong growth of renewable energy and the gradual replacement of coal are in line with the world's transition to net zero emissions." Dale believes that "compared with the challenges that the energy system will face in the next 10, 20 or even 30 years, the challenges faced in the past 70 years are insignificant. In order to achieve net zero emissions, countries and companies need to implement relevant long-term goals and continuously and significantly reduce emissions. From companies to governments and consumers, all parties need to participate and play a role." bp Group CEO Bernard Lu Looney said, "The world does need more low-carbon companies, but perhaps the most important thing is to achieve the decarbonization of energy companies and, based on the existing scale and professional technology of these companies, help the global energy system to achieve a comprehensive and deep transformation and repositioning. This is both the global expectation for the energy industry in the next 30 years and the need for the development of the industry." He believes that "producers and consumers, as well as companies, governments and even the whole society should work together to promote this necessary change."

The 2021 edition of the Yearbook also mentioned that the average oil price (Brent spot price) in 2020 was $41.84 per barrel, the lowest since 2004.

Global oil demand fell by 9.3%, with the largest declines in the United States (-2.3 million barrels/day), the European Union (-1.5 million barrels/day) and India (-480,000 barrels/day).

China is almost the only country with an increase in oil consumption (220,000 barrels/day). Refinery operating rates fell by a record 8.3 percentage points to 73.9%, the lowest since 1985.

Natural gas prices fell to multi-year lows: the average Henry Hub price in the United States in 2020 was $1.99/MMBtu, the lowest level since 1995; Asian LNG prices (Japan and South Korea benchmarks) fell to a record low of $4.39/MMBtu.

However, the share of natural gas in primary energy continued to rise, reaching 24.7%, a record high. Liquefied natural gas supply increased by 4 billion cubic meters, a growth rate of 0.6%, far lower than the average growth rate of 6.8% in the past decade.

Among them, the supply of liquefied natural gas in the United States increased by 14 billion cubic meters (an increase of 29%), but the supply in most other regions (especially Europe and Africa) declined, partially offsetting the total global growth.

Coal consumption fell by 6.2 exajoules (EJ), or 4.2%, with the largest declines in the United States (-2.1 EJ) and India (-1.1 EJ).

OECD coal consumption fell to its lowest point since bp data were first recorded in 1965.

China and Malaysia were notable exceptions, with coal consumption increasing by 0.5 EJ and 0.2 EJ respectively.

The Yearbook mentions that renewable energy (including biofuels but excluding hydropower) grew by 9.7%, lower than the average level of the past decade (13.4%), but the absolute value of energy growth (2.9 exajoules) was similar to 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Solar power generation achieved the highest growth ever of 1.3 exajoules, an increase of 20%.

Wind power (1.5 exajoules) contributed the most to the growth of renewable energy.

Solar installed capacity increased by 127 gigawatts and wind installed capacity increased by 111 gigawatts, almost twice the largest increase in previous years.

China was the largest contributor to the growth of renewable energy (1.0 exajoules), followed by the United States (0.4 exajoules). Europe as a region contributed 0.7 exajoules.

Total global electricity generation fell by 0.9%, a larger drop than in 2009 (-0.5%), the only year in which electricity demand fell since BP began publishing electricity data in 1985.

The share of renewable energy in electricity generation increased from 10.3% to 11.7%.

The share of coal-fired power generation fell by 1.3 percentage points to 35.1%, a new low recorded by BP.

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China's Contribution to Renewable Energy Growth Exceeded

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