In September 2015, 193 world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. If these Goals are completed, it would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030.
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

• [New] The world must stop production of gas - and diesel-powered vehicles by 2030 in order to keep global warming to tolerable levels.
• [New] Low oil prices, expected to remain below $50 per barrel through 2021, are putting downward pressure on investment, while natural gas prices are expected to slowly creep up as long as production is low.
• [New] At 14.9 billion bushels, 2020 corn production for grain is forecast to be the second highest production on record for the United States.
• [New] Over the next decade BP will increase investments in low-emission businesses tenfold, to $5 billion a year, while shrinking its oil and gas production by 40%.
• [New] OPEC revised down by another 400,000 b/d its forecast for global oil demand in 2020, expecting consumption to shrink by 9.5 million b/d over 2019, cutting estimates for the second month in a row.
• [New] The Paris-based organization now projects crude oil consumption to fall 8.4 million barrels per day to 91.7 million barrels per day in 2020.
• [New] On a quarterly basis, the EIA expects ethanol production to average 930,000 barrels per day in the third quarter of 2020, increasing to 950,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter.
• [New] MMCF are of increasing importance, with the organisation noting production has doubled in the last 30 years and is forecast for continued growth.
• [New] Global economic activity will partly recover from the COVID-19 pandemic over the next few years, but scarring effects, including work-from-home edicts, will lead to slower growth in energy consumption.
• [New] China's demand for natural gas, which emits half the carbon dioxide of coal, is projected to rise to 15% of total primary energy consumption by 2030, driven by power generation and residential sectors.
• [New] Man-made cellulosic fibres are of increasing importance; production of MMFCs has doubled in the last 30 years and is forecast for continued growth over the coming years.
• [New] The main contribution of shale production will be in natural gas and is expected to reach an output of 12.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day by 2025.
• A recent survey found that 51 percent ofurban consumers in China were willing to rent products or buy secondhand to help the environment.
• While India's population is expected to overtake that of China by 2025, national meat consumption will total less than 10 percent of China's at the same time.
• Global consumption of dairy products is forecast to grow by about 1.5 percent a year to 2025, paced by sub-Saharan African consumption at about 3.0 percent a year.
• Asia's rise looks set to continue: In real GDP terms, Asia's share was 34 percent in 2017, and is expected to hit 46 percent by 2040: By 2040, Asia could account for 39 percent of global consumption.
• Filipino enterprises emphasized the ability to sell their products and services online as an important opportunity for their enterprises up to 2025.
• Perhaps we will see a shift to greener, cleaner means of production, and a deeper appreciation of nature as an integral part of how we manage the economy rather than as something external and separate from it.
• To improve air quality, the Government of India has an ambitious target: to increase the share of natural gas within India's total energy consumption from approximately 6% to 15% by 2030.
• The market for plant-based proteins in Indonesia has witnessed tremendous growth in demand over the last few years and will grow at a CAGR of 6% in the Asia-Pacific region by 2025.
• Nearly $11 trillion of investment in production, storage and transport infrastructure is needed for hydrogen to meet about a quarter of the world's energy needs by 2050.
• Like many other governments around the world, South Korea is aiming to scale up green hydrogen production, with the equivalent of more than US$ 60 billion being put into a Green New Deal that will include investment in hydrogen with renewable energy.

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Last updated: 28 September 2020