For many energy-importing countries, the Iran war is accelerating a trend away from fossil fuel imports, BloombergNEF reported. In a new energy market outlook projecting out to 2050, BNEF analysts forecast global oil demand will plateau in the early 2030s while natural gas demand surges well into mid-century. Though a record $2.3 trillion was invested globally in clean energy companies, projects, and technologies in 2025, that figure would need to double for the next five years to put the global economy on track for a “net zero” emissions outcome by 2050.
But even on the current trajectory, clean energy adoption is already leading many countries to spend a smaller share of their GDP on fossil fuel purchases, David Hostert, BNEF’s chief economist, told Semafor: “Countries like Vietnam or India that are worst affected by the current crisis have the most to gain from electrifying and moving towards renewables.”
