Growth in energy demand was declining even before the coronavirus pandemic spread globally, keeping consumers under lockdown and sending prices to record lows, BP said on Wednesday.
The oil major’s annual Statistical Review of World Energy showed that growth in primary energy consumption slowed to 1.3% in 2019, almost half the rate of a year earlier.
Renewable energy comprised the bulk of that growth, overtaking nuclear in its share of power generation for the first time, while coal consumption continued to decline, falling to its lowest level in 16 years.