Global fossil fuel demand set to fall from 2020, three centuries after the dawn of the Industrial Revolution

Solar panels and electric vehicles are becoming cheaper so quickly that demand for oil and coal will peak in just three years, report predicts

Demand for coal and oil will peak in 2020 as the renewable energy revolution gathers pace and undercuts fossil fuels on price, according to a new report.

It found that significant declines in the cost of solar panels and electric vehicles would reduce demand for fossil fuels, warning investors that relying on current industry projections might be a mistake that would leave their money “stranded” in worthless projects.

Cheaper electric vehicles, for example, could cut the market for oil by two million barrels a day by 2025 – “the same volume that cause the oil price collapse in 2014-15”, the report said.

Its authors, from the Grantham Institute of Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London and the Carbon Tracker think tank, suggested their projections could actually underplay the speed of the switch to a low-carbon economy. Read more…