The beginning of the end of fossil fuels, declares the head of the International Energy Agency
The world is at the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era and demand will peak before 2030, the world’s top energy agency has said.
International Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Fatih Birol said the need for oil, coal and natural gas will go into permanent decline “sooner than many people anticipated.”
He said “the world is on the cusp of a historic tipping point” as the agency forecast for the first time that demand will peak in the coming years even if governments do not announce any new policies on climate change.
“We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era and we have to prepare for the next era,” Birol said.
He called on policymakers to be “agile” and do more to accelerate the transition to clean energy and reduce emissions to meet goals of limiting global warming.
International Energy Agency chief executive Fatih Birol (pictured) said the need for oil, coal and natural gas will go into permanent decline “sooner than many people anticipated”.
Last year, the IEA forecast that fossil fuel demand would peak in 2030, but brought forward the date in its latest annual World Energy Outlook report.
Writing in the Financial Times ahead of the report’s publication next month, Birol said the “spectacular” growth of clean energy, such as solar panels and the shift to electric cars, was the driving force behind the revised forecast. .
Meanwhile, the global energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine helped accelerate the transition as European countries moved away from natural gas.
He also pointed to structural changes in China’s economy, including the growth of renewable energy and nuclear power, as contributing factors to the revised forecast.
China is the world’s largest coal consumer, but the shift, coupled with a slowing economy, signals “a decline in coal use soon,” Birol said, adding: “Solar, wind and nuclear power will eat up growth.” potential of coal in China”. .
“The peaks reached by all three fossil fuels are a welcome sight, as they show that the shift towards cleaner, safer energy systems is accelerating and that efforts to avoid the worst effects of climate change are making progress.”
However, “faster and stronger policy measures” are needed to limit global warming, he said. Fossil fuel companies have previously criticized the agency for its calls to stop investing in new oil development.
OPEC, the group of oil-producing countries, accused the IEA in April of creating “volatility in the markets.”
