Today in Energy

In our International Energy Outlook 2021, we estimate the global light-duty vehicle (LDV) fleet contained 1.31 billion vehicles in 2020, and we project this fleet will grow to 2.21 billion vehicles by 2050. We project electric vehicles (EVs)—any LDV with a charging plug—will grow from 0.7% of the global LDV fleet in 2020 to 31% in 2050, reaching 672 million vehicles. Significant growth in EV sales and shares of sales through the projection period results in the global conventional gasoline and diesel LDV fleet peaking in 2038.

In our latest Winter Fuels Outlook, we forecast that U.S. households that primarily use natural gas for space heating will spend an average of $746 on heating this winter (October–March), which is $172, or 30%, more than last year.

In our October Winter Fuels Outlook, we expect U.S. households that primarily heat with propane will spend more this heating season (October through March) than during the past several winters because of higher propane prices and slightly colder temperatures compared with last winter.

In our International Energy Outlook 2021, we project that global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO) emissions will increase for countries both inside and outside of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) over the next 30 years under current laws and regulations. Between 2020 and 2050, we project that total energy-related CO emissions will increase by 5% (600 million metric tons) in OECD countries (which generally have slowly growing economies) and by 35% (8 billion metric tons) in non-OECD countries (which generally have rapidly growing economies).

In our International Energy Outlook 2021 (IEO2021), we project that non-OECD countries in Asia will collectively become the largest importers of natural gas by 2050. In 2020, the countries of OECD Europe were collectively the largest importers of natural gas, followed by Japan and South Korea combined, and then non-OECD Asia, which includes China and India.