IEA: $16 Trillion Energy Investment Needed To Avoid Global Crisis

By Agence France-Presse The world economy could face a crisis unless $16 trillion dollars is invested in the energy sector by 2030 to meet growing global demand, according to the International Energy Agency. The Paris-based organization's Executive Director Claude Mandil said in a statement, "Without new policy actions, world energy demand will rise by two-thirds between now and 2030, and the world economy will falter if these energy supplies are not made available," he warned in comments prepared for an Oil and Money Conference in London. Mandil's remarks were based on the findings of a new IEA study entitled World Energy Investment Outlook. The study came to the conclusion that the electricity sector would swallow up the bulk of the $16 trillion dollars expected to be necessary over the next 30 years. It found that power generation, transmission and distribution would require almost $10 trillion in investment. As for the oil and gas industry, each would need $3 trillion of investment by 2030, or about 19% of the total figure. Meanwhile, the coal industry was seen requiring only $400 billion in investment, the equivalent of 2% of global energy investment. Given the amount of investment needed in the energy sector, finding the funds -- especially for developing countries -- would be a daunting task, the IEA said. "Financing the required investment in developing countries and transition economies is the biggest and most pressing challenge," the IEA said in the statement. Nevertheless, the IEA forecast: "The projected rate of investment will still leave 1.4 billion people without access to electricity in 2030, only 200 million fewer than now." The IEA coordinates measures among its 26 mainly energy-consuming member nations to deal with energy supply. Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2003