He said that various countries’ pivots to traditional fossil fuels are just temporary and immediate responses to the crisis, but do not alter the path to cleaner energy in the long term.
“For example, in Europe where I live, countries are now changing their policies for a short period and making use of coal, the dirtiest fuel. But these are short-term solutions,” he said, adding that there is overall still a major acceleration of clean energy adoption globally.
This is driven by three main factors, said Dr Birol, citing energy security, climate commitments and countries pushing clean energy solutions for industrial policy reasons.
He pointed to the United States, Japan, Europe, India and China as examples where governments are giving tax incentives, subsidies and different types of support to encourage the use of renewable energy.
“When I look at the numbers, which we do…