COVID-19 is a game-changer for renewable energy. Here is why

• The increase in renewable power during the pandemic is not purely circumstantial.
• But COVID-19 may also have hastened the end of fossil fuel energy in the power sector.
• Governments and businesses can now ensure we keep building on this new energy paradigm.

COVID-19 has brought the generation of energy from fossil fuels to a breaking point. As the lockdown measures were introduced, global energy demand dropped precipitously at levels not seen in 70 years. The IEA has estimated that overall energy demand contracted by 6% and energy-related emissions will decrease by 8% for 2020. Oil demand is expected to drop 9% and coal 8% for this year, while crude oil is at record-low prices.

Previous energy crises provide insight into what happens when the oil price crashes and how the use of fossil fuels has subsequently rebounded. But this crisis is different, because it is demand-led. The scale of the fall in demand, the speed of change, and how widespread it has been, have generated a radical shift that seems to be more than a temporary short-term drop in demand for fossil fuels, at least in the power sector.

With the fall in demand, renewable sources (mainly wind and solar) saw their share in electricity substantially increase at record levels in many countries. In less than 10 weeks, the USA increased its renewable energy consumption by nearly 40% and India by 45% (see graph). Italy, Germany, and Spain set new…