BP: Renewable Energy To Become Main Source Of Electricity By 2040

The renewable energy industry is growing from strength to strength, so much so that BP has predicted it will become the world’s main source of power by 2040.

The oil giant has released its BP Energy Outlook 2019, which looks at the changing face of the sector and how it is likely to evolve over the next two decades.

As part of its conclusion, it found that renewables is the “fastest growing source of energy”, already contributing half of the growth in global supplies.

BP’s group chief executive Bob Dudley said: “One of the biggest challenges of our time is a dual one: the need to meet rising energy demand, while at the same time, reducing carbon emissions.”

The paper showed the increasing use of renewable energy as demand for electricity grows. Indeed, from 2000 to 2040, it is predicted that renewable shares will have risen from zero to almost 30 per cent of power sources, while coal will have declined from over 40 per cent to just below renewable energy’s share.

According to the report: “Renewables account for around two-thirds of the increase in power generation.”

It stated this will be at the expense of coal, whose share is likely to be superseded by renewables as the primary source of energy in the global power sector.

This comes after the European Union (EU) last year revealed its plans to raise renewable energy targets to 32 per cent by 2030. The Guardian reported that the EU decided to raise its goals from 27 per cent, although some politicians felt the new target still was not ambitious enough.

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