Managing Competing Sectoral Demands for Renewable Energy

Decarbonising the transport sector will require rapidly adopting new renewable energy sources. The increasing demand for renewable energy must be balanced with available supply, which needs to be scaled up at an unprecedented speed to achieve climate goals. At the same time, countries seek to decarbonise their entire economy with tremendous needs for renewable energy resources in very short timescales. Potential bottlenecks in renewable energy supply could place the transport sector in direct competition for renewable energy resources with other sectors of the economy, such as buildings and industry. There may also be competition for renewable energy supplies between different modes within the transport sector, affecting the mode or technology choice or between different global regions, each with different purchasing power and resource availability. This report assesses the constraints to the transport sector arising from the potential scarcity of renewable energy supply over the coming decades. In doing so, it aims to support governments in long-term planning to decarbonise the transport sector, accounting for energy system constraints and supply bottlenecks and facilitating international co-operation.