The world will be fuelled by electricity but even more clean energy is needed, report says

The world is set to make abundant energy by the second half of the decade as the production of batteries and solar panels surges -- but there'll also be an excess of planet-warming fossil fuels, a report released Wednesday said.

The world is set to make abundant energy by the second half of the decade as the production of batteries and solar panels surges -- but there'll also be an excess of planet-warming fossil fuels, a report released Wednesday by the International Energy Agency said.

"We're now moving at speed into the Age of Electricity," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a press statement marking the release of the annual World Energy Outlook. Energy worldwide will "increasingly be based on clean sources of electricity," he said.

But the report also notes that the world is still way off what's needed to cap warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial times -- the limit set in the Paris Agreement -- because emissions would decline too slowly. It expects demand for oil and gas to peak later this decade and puts the world on pace to hit 2.4 degrees (4.3 Fahrenheit) of warming.

China in particular -- the world's current biggest emitter of greenhouse gases but also the main manufacturer of solar panels and batteries -- is driving global energy trends, the report said.

In recent years, China has accounted for most of the growth in oil demand, but electric vehicles now make up 40 per cent of new sales of cars there, and 20 per cent of sales globally, putting major oil and gas producers "in a bind."

The report indicates that China's emissions of planet-warming gases may peak by 2025, but "given the changes underway in China we think that might be a bit pessimistic," said Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics.

Hare said "there's every chance" China's emissions have already peaked in 2023, but more data is needed to be sure.