‘Nobody can take solar or wind hostage’: IEA chief on creating a secure energy supply

euronews (in English)

“The more we go for clean energy, the more resistant we are to global conflicts because nobody can take solar or wind as a hostage,” International Energy Agency boss Dr Fatih  Birol told Euronews.

Transcript

00:00We are entering the age of electricity.

00:03The more we go for clean energy, the more resistant we are to this crisis because nobody

00:09can take solar or wind as a hostage.

00:18Welcome to The Big Question, the series from Euronews where we speak to some of the biggest

00:22names in business.

00:24I'm Hannah Brown and today I'm joined by Dr Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the

00:28International Energy Agency.

00:30So thank you for joining us again.

00:32You released the World Energy Outlook 2024 in October, so can you tell me what has changed

00:36in the past year, what progress has been made?

00:39So at the World Energy Outlook, we see at least two major trends, which is important

00:47for Europeans but for the entire world.

00:50One of them is when it comes to oil and natural gas, which are key for our economies, for

00:57our industries.

00:59In the next years to come, we expect that the prices will see a downward pressure, which

01:06is good news for the economy because of a lot of new production supply will come and

01:14the demand, especially for oil, is weaker than in the past because Chinese economy is

01:20getting weaker and lots of electric cars are sold around the world.

01:25So this is one news which will make the hands of the energy-buying countries stronger than

01:31the energy-exporting countries, this is number one.

01:35The second one is that there was an industrial revolution centuries ago, and with this we

01:41had the age of coal, followed by the age of oil, we use a lot of oil, we still use oil,

01:48we will use more, but we see that we are entering the age of electricity.

01:54Lots of electricity is used for, again, the cars, in the developing world, more and more

02:00air conditioners are sold, they are a major source of electrification, and the AI chips

02:06demand a lot of electricity, so we are moving the age of electricity, and the good news

02:11is most of this electricity is going to come from clean energy, solar, wind, hydropower,

02:20geothermal, and nuclear power.

02:24As we are hurtling towards 2030, and all of the climate goals associated with it, how

02:32are the current global conflicts affecting the energy transition?

02:36In fact, climate change is a global problem.

02:40The emissions going to atmosphere from Jakarta, or from Lyon, or from Johannesburg, or from

02:48Stockholm, it has the same effect on everybody.

02:52We just don't have a passport, which means that we need a global solution, and international

03:00collaboration, countries coming together, which is the easiest way to solve this problem.

03:06But what I'm seeing today is there is a fragmentation among the countries, which is making life

03:14much more difficult to reach our climate goals.

03:17So I see this as a key barrier in front of having a global solution to one of the most

03:24important threats of our planet, and I very much hope that despite these political divisions

03:31among the countries, when it comes to climate change, countries are able to come together.

03:37We shouldn't forget that climate change is a problem of not only tomorrow, but also today.

03:44And thinking about today, how vulnerable is the current energy situation, and what would

03:48happen if more conflict emerges?

03:50I really hope that we will have less crisis, and the issue is the more we go for clean

03:56energy, with solar, wind, hydropower, the more resistant we are to this crisis, because

04:04nobody can take solar or wind as a hostage.

04:08You can do oil and gas, but not solar and wind and the others.

04:12So in fact, the more this energy security threats, as a result of the political tensions

04:20here and there, we see the stronger the push for clean energy is, not only for climate

04:27change reasons, but for energy security reasons.

04:30So this is an interesting dilemma.

04:32Interesting, yeah.

04:34And so you mentioned wind and solar and those green energies being a really good way of

04:39protecting us from future global crises.

04:42Is there any other green energies that you think are severely underdeveloped, that we

04:46really need to be thinking more about going forward?

04:48I think there is one, which will be more and more important in Europe, but also in other

04:53parts of the world, which is geothermal energy.

04:56And this can help us to generate electricity without interruption, it is not going to be

05:05bound by the availability of solar and wind with nature, but it is 24-7 there.

05:13And second, it is clean energy.

05:16So we are working to bring the cost of geothermal energy down, so that it also complements solar

05:22and wind.

05:23Brilliant.

05:24And looking forward, you know, next year you'll be putting up the next World Energy Outlook.

05:30What would you like to see change before then?

05:32I really want to see that the countries, instead of having difficulty with each other politically,

05:39they come together, especially when it comes to global issues, such as climate change,

05:45and try to get some consensus on how we go forward.

05:49This is the major, major challenge we see today, especially when it comes to support

05:55emerging and developing countries' clean energy financing there, because we see a lot

06:03of investment happening in clean energy, but a big chunk of it is happening in the advanced

06:09economies in China, only a small portion is happening in the emerging and developing world,

06:15where the bulk of the population lives today.

06:18And actually, on that topic of investment, how have we, in the past year, how have we

06:21seen the investments into clean energy develop?

06:24Oh, it's going well.

06:26So just to give you an example, six years ago, the entire investment of energy in the

06:34world was two trillion, one trillion for clean energy, one trillion fossil fuels.

06:41This year, the entire is three trillion, one still for fossil, but two for clean.

06:48So clean went from one to two, double the clean energy investment.

06:52That's very good news.

06:54Not high enough, but still a good increase, doubling, but the problem is most of them

06:59are in advanced economies in China.

07:02So if it's not enough, what does it need to be in order for us to achieve the goals that

07:07we have set?

07:08So what is lacking today is the financing clean energy in emerging and developing countries.

07:14Eighty-five percent of this two trillion is in advanced economies such as Europe, United

07:20States, Canada, and others, and China.

07:23Fifteen percent in the rest of the world where more than two-thirds of the global population

07:28lives.

07:29So we have to find ways to support those countries.

07:32Yes.

07:33Okay.

07:34Brilliant.

07:35Perfect.

07:36Well, thank you so much for your time today and for joining us again on The Big Question.

07:37It was a pleasure.

07:38Thank you very much.

07:39Thank you very much.

07:41And thank you for watching.

07:42Tune in next Monday for another brand new episode of The Big Question.

07:51Bye-bye.

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