Letter from London: Some fuels are more equal than others

For those demonising oil and gas, there is a plot twist: the real bogeymen are coal and the world’s voracious appetite for energy

Fossil fuel—be it coal, oil or gas—continues to meet some 82pc of the world’s energy needs, and that figure would have been higher had China’s economy been stronger, the UK-based Energy Institute (EI) said in late June. This fact sits side by side with another important statistic: there has been record growth in renewable energy, according to the Statistical Review of World Energy, which was formerly BP’s benchmark annual publication but is now managed by EI. Breaking it down further shows oil now accounts for only a third of energy demand. It has been falling steadily over the past four decades from a peak of 50pc in the early 1970s, according to the data. Similarly, gas’ share in primary e