Global Energy Investment Expected To Fall By Record 20% In 2020 Due To COVID-19 - IEA

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th May, 2020) The world's investment in the energy sector is projected to plummet by a record-high 20 percent year-on-year in 2020 as a consequence of the energy crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.

"The unparalleled decline is staggering in both its scale and swiftness, with serious potential implications for energy security and clean energy transitions. At the start of 2020, global energy investment was on track for growth of around 2 percent, which would have been the largest annual rise in spending in six years.

But after the Covid-19 crisis brought large swathes of the world economy to a standstill in a matter of months, global investment is now expected to plummet by 20 percent, or almost $400 billion," the IEA said in a statement launching the World Energy Investment 2020 report.

Oil and gas will suffer most as investment in this area will fall by a "brutal" 32 percent this year due to the low prices and falling demand, according to the agency.

The investment in renewables, however, will prove most resilient due to the low costs of installation and production, the IEA noted.