• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Energy Outlooks Compared: Global and Regional Insights
  • Contributor: Ansari, Dawud [Author]; Holz, Franziska [Author]; Al-Kuhlani, Hashem [Author]
  • imprint: Cleveland: International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE); Kiel, Hamburg: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, 2020
  • Language: English
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.5547/2160-5890.9.1.dans
  • ISSN: 2160-5890
  • Keywords: Energy modelling ; Climate change ; Scenarios ; Energy outlooks
  • Origination:
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  • Description: We compare prominent global energy scenarios of organizations and companies. We supplement the analysis with four own scenarios, which were derived from structured analytic techniques in combination with a numerical global energy and resource market model (Multimod). Our paper provides three central contributions: (i) a compact survey of selected outlooks with meta characteristics (conceptual nature, numerical framework, qualitative elaboration) and quantitative energy system indicators at the global and regional (Europe, Asia-Pacific region, North America) level; (ii) numerous observations from a verbal analysis intended to stimulate future research; and (iii) the discussion of our own outlook. We find that scenarios essentially carrying forward current policies and/or trends lead to future worlds that do not meet the 2°C target of the Paris Agreement. Interestingly, there are both normative and exploratory scenarios reaching the Paris Agreement, and there is no consensus between outlooks on how to attain low-emission futures towards 2050. Some scenarios rely on a very strong role of renewables, others on a substantial role of negative emission technologies with fossil fuel use, yet others on assuming decreasing energy demand. There is a strong variation between outlooks with respect to transparency on scenario generation, modelling approach, and data. We argue that, in addition to transparency, the actual inclusion of a qualitative analysis of drivers and storylines helps ensure the political, social and technological feasibility of scenarios.
  • Access State: Open Access