REN21 - RENEWABLES 2022 GLOBAL STATUS REPORT
Published in June 2022, REN21’s 2022 report presents renewable energy landscapes and trends.
The status quo elaborated for 2021 depicts a global energy transition lagging behind, while the world is facing the greatest energy crises in history with high energy and fossil fuel prices. In 2021, a total of USD 366 billion were invested in renewables, showing the overall increased ambition by countries and their policy commitments. At the same time, global CO2 emissions rose by 6% from 2020 to 2021, as political plans have not yet resulted in concrete activities, and policy support for renewables is not powerful enough.
Major trend developments in markets and industries of renewables encompass bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, solar PV and wind power. In 2020, 47% of all renewable energy in final energy consumption came from bioenergy. Production and demand for bioenergy are rising, especially in the heating and fuel markets. The production of ethanol, the primary source of transport biofuels, increased by 26% between 2011 and 2021. In the same time span, the production of biodiesel nearly doubled. HVO production increased by 36% in just one year, between 2020 and 2021. Furthermore, increasing policy attention is being placed on sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). However, although its production is augmenting, with Europe, USA and China as main producers, its share in aviation fuels remained below 1% in 2021. While the transport biofuel market faced a decreased demand in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the global bio-power capacity and generation increased during that time, protected by power purchase contracts. In 2021, China remained the world greatest producer of bio-power with 146 TWh produced annually, followed by USA, Brazil, Germany, Japan, UK and India.
Despite huge expansions in renewable power capacity in 2021, increasing energy demand was mostly met with fossil fuels, with a record increase in CO2 emissions from 2020 to 2021. The rising supply of renewables could not meet the exceeding demand. In addition, advancements have been uneven across regions and sectors. Progress in renewables is limited by factors such as dependence on fossil fuels, slow technological development and lacking policy support. Subsidies for fossil fuels still remain in place, and the ambition of countries is antagonized by rising energy prices.
The current circumstances call for solid actions towards a sustainable and resilient energy system. Several aspects are paramount for such a transition, including decentralization, diversification of policy support as well as governance and players, decrease of import dependence, and development of value chains. GBEP continues to support countries in developing appropriate policies that promote and incentivize sustainable bioenergy, while encouraging local value chains.


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