AI adoption across industries could drive significant energy demand growth while helping cut carbon intensity by half by 2050, according to a Shell Plc report.
Productivity gains from AI, including automation in manufacturing, will fuel economic expansion, keeping oil demand rising by 3-5 million barrels per day into the 2030s before peaking and gradually declining.
Natural gas consumption may grow into the 2040s, while petrochemical use is expected to persist into the 22nd century.Coal power stops growing by 2030, natural gas by 2035, with no net additions afterward, the report says.Shell’s first energy outlook in two years, released Wednesday, highlights AI’s role in energy.
The 57-page report presents three scenarios but doesn’t set corporate policy.All scenarios exceed the 1.5C Paris Agreement target, which may have already been reached. However, Shell expects faster decarbonization, aided by AI, to limit warming below 3C-4C.
Shell’s scenarios envision a highly electrified energy system and the growth of cost-effective carbon removal technologies, gradually lowering global carbon intensity.”Achieving net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050 requires full adoption of carbon management and removal,” the report states.
