The IEA World Energy Outlook 2022 – a brief analysis and implications

Abstract

The International Energy Agency (IEA) releases each year in October/November its World Energy Outlook (WEO). The IEA WEO 20221 provides analysis and insights on trends in global energy demand and supply, and what they imply for energy security, environmental protection and economic development. The WEO covers the whole energy system and uses a scenario-based approach to highlight the key choices, consequences and issues lying ahead, and to show how the course of the energy system can be affected by changing some of the key variables, mostly the energy policies adopted by governments around the world. This article tries to identify the main conclusions which can be drawn from this year’s edition, in the troubled context of the energy crisis stemming from the Russian aggression in Ukraine and with the pressing climate urgency in the background.