Society’s green shift is at a tipping point - the narrative is changing fast with megatrends shaping the issues of the future

Climate change

By 2030, the world will be 1.5 degrees warmer than during pre-industrial times - we are fast approaching the time where changes to the climate become uncontrollable.

1.5 degree target, emissions need to be reduced by 55%, by 2030  (UNEP)

Current policies and obligations project a temperature rise to about 2.7°C above pre-industrial levels.

The need for binding long-term or net-zero targets to limit warming to about 2.0°C above pre-industrial levels is existential and has never been more urgent.

Urbanisation and demographics

The global population is estimated to reach 8.6 billion by 2030 albeit with a slower growth rate than currently.

Regions in Asia and Africa will have the youngest populations with people in general living longer

2/3rd of the world population will live in cities by 2030.

Cities will consume 60-80% of energy resources, and will be responsible for 70% of global emissions 

Connectivity  and digitalisation  

The race towards digitalisation will continue with 125 billion connected devices by 2030.
Upto 75% of global population are projected to have mobile connectivity with up to 60% with broadband access.
The internet represents 10% of global electricity usage currently.

Likely to be 5th largest consumer of electricity by 2025

It is estimated that there will be 5.2 people classified as being middle class by 2030, up 65% from today’s 3.2 billion.

Prosperity

The majority of the world will be middle class with a significant of them living in emerging economies

With an increasing global population that is living longer, with greater prosperity,  comes greater consumption and the need for more energy

It is estimated that global energy consumption will rise at a rate of 1.7% per year 

Energy production is already the largest source of global greenhouse-gas emissions – being the main driver behind climate change. 

Overall demand for fossil fuels is not expected to decelerate until after 2040, as scaling up renewable energy will not have been achieved to meet the global demand by then.

These global megatrends are increasingly stressing the planets resources, resulting more consumption and the need for more energy.

Rising emissions are linked to energy consumption and energy generation, which are projected to keep increasing in parallel with the growing global population and middle class.