Lifeline: Renewable Energy
Summary
The Renewable Energy lifeline on the clock shows the percent of global energy coming from renewable sources – wind, water, solar, and bioenergy. It currently stands at 13.5% and is rising extremely slowly.
Overview
Around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels for energy. To reduce global emissions we need to rapidly shift our energy systems away from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy – especially wind and solar.
This lifeline represents the percentage share of global energy consumption generated by renewable resources. We must transition our global energy system away from fossil fuels and increase this lifeline to 100% as soon as possible.
“Renewable energy” refers to the sum of energy generated from hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal, wave and tidal, and bioenergy sources. It does not include energy from traditional biomass (wood, crop residues, and charcoal), as global data from these sources is limited.
Data
Data for the Renewable Energy Lifeline is sourced from Our World In Data, an open source database and a project of the Global Change Data Lab and the Oxford Martin Programme on Global Development at Oxford University.
According to Our World in Data, renewable energy made up 11.41% of the share of global primary energy consumption in 2019. The clock currently assumes an annual percentage change in renewable energy share of 5.655% relative to the previous year - the average growth rate in renewable energy share from 2016-2019. This rate is updated each year as annual data becomes available.
Full Citation: Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2020) - "Renewable Energy". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: Our World In Data.
For more on Our World In Data’s methodology, click here then and click the “Sources” tab on the chart.
“The numbers on this Clock are very clear. The Lifeline tells us what we must do: achieve a 100% renewable future. The Deadline tells us when: in the next six years, if we want to stay under 1.5°C. If we don’t listen to the Clock, we’re screwed.”
How to use this lifeline
Use this lifeline to demand world leaders commit to phasing out fossil fuels and rapidly expand renewable energy within the next few years.
