- Nobel scientist uncovered tiny genetic switches with big potential
- Grammy-winning Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney, dies at 91
- UN biodiversity summit in Colombia aims to turn words into action
- Georgia Supreme Court reinstates six-week abortion ban
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights multi-front war
- Mexican mayor murdered days after taking office
- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- Ex-Dutch football star Johan Neeskens dies
- Man Utd battling to improve fortunes, says Evans
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Masood, Abdullah centuries lift Pakistan to 328-4 in first England Test
- Hurricane Milton strengthens fast, threatens Mexico, Florida
- Tunisia's President Saied set for landslide election win
- Barca hoping to return to Camp Nou 'by end of year'
- Trump to open second golf course at Scotland resort in summer 2025
- Super-sub Jhon Duran rewarded with new Aston Villa deal
- US duo win Nobel for gene regulation breakthrough
- Masood hits first ton for four years to power Pakistan to 233-1
- Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
- Naomi Osaka pulls out of Japan Open with back injury
- Weather may delay launch of mission to study deflected asteroid
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Artist Marina Abramovic hopes first China show offers tech respite
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on US jobs data
- Pakistan 122-1 at lunch in first England Test
- Kazakhs approve plan for first nuclear power plant
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- 'Second family': tennis stars hunt winning formula with new coaches
- Philippines, South Korea agree to deepen maritime cooperation
- Mexico mayor murdered days after taking office
- Sardinia's sheep farmers battle bluetongue as climate warms
- Japan govt admits doctoring 'untidy' cabinet photo
- Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack
- Darvish tames Ohtani as Padres thrash Dodgers
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Family affair as LeBron, Bronny James make Lakers bow
RBGPF | -1.97% | 58.94 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.53% | 24.57 | $ | |
SCS | -0.15% | 12.95 | $ | |
GSK | -0.49% | 38.63 | $ | |
NGG | -1.56% | 65.48 | $ | |
RELX | -0.54% | 46.04 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.45% | 6.88 | $ | |
VOD | 0.31% | 9.69 | $ | |
RIO | -0.11% | 69.62 | $ | |
BTI | -0.26% | 35.2 | $ | |
AZN | -0.78% | 76.87 | $ | |
BCC | 1.68% | 141.27 | $ | |
JRI | -0.76% | 13.18 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.09% | 24.79 | $ | |
BCE | -0.54% | 33.53 | $ | |
BP | 0.78% | 33.14 | $ |
IEA sees 'beginning of the end' of fossil fuel era
For the first time, world demand for oil, gas and coal is forecast to peak this decade due to the "spectacular" growth of cleaner energy technologies and electric cars, the International Energy Agency's chief said Tuesday.
The IEA's annual World Energy Outlook, due out next month, will show that "the world is on the cusp of a historic turning point", executive director Fatih Birol wrote in a column in the Financial Times.
The shift will have implications for the battle against climate change as it will bring forward the peak in greenhouse gas emissions, Birol said.
"Fossil fuels will be with us for many years to come –- but looking at our numbers, we may be witnessing the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era," Birol said in separate comments released by the IEA.
Birol said the change is mostly driven by the "spectacular growth" of clean energy technologies and electric vehicles, along with structural changes in the Chinese economy and the fallout from the energy crisis.
Birol warned, however, that the projected declines in oil, gas and coal demand are "nowhere near steep enough to put the world on a path to limiting global warming" to 1.5 degrees Celsius -- the preferred target under the Paris Agreement.
Meeting this goal "will require significantly stronger and faster policy action by governments", he added.
- UN warning -
The fate of fossil fuels will be at the heart of the debates at the UN's COP28 climate summit in Dubai, a major oil producer, between November 30 and December 12.
In a progress report on Friday, the United Nations warned that the world was "not on track" to meet the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement.
Global greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025 and drop sharply thereafter to keep the 1.5C target in view, the report said.
Phasing out fossil fuels whose emissions cannot be captured or compensated is also required to achieve the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the UN said.
The IEA already predicted in a report in June that a peak global oil demand was "in sight" before the end of the decade, but it is the first time that it makes such an assessment for coal and gas.
"Our latest projections show that the growth of electric vehicles around the world, especially in China, means oil demand is on course to peak before 2030," Birol said Tuesday.
After staying "stubbornly high" for the past decade, coal demand is set to peak "in the next few years", he said.
And the "Golden Age of Gas" -- first called by the IEA in 2011 -- "is now nearing an end", with demand set to fall in advanced economies later this decade, Birol added.
"This is the result of renewables increasingly outmatching gas for producing electricity, the rise of heat pumps and Europe's accelerated shift away from gas following Russia's invasion of Ukraine," he said.
- Transition 'firmly advancing' -
Simone Tagliapietra, a climate expert and senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, said that the IEA's new projections "illustrate that while still to slow, the global energy transition is firmly advancing".
"As technologies like wind and solar are now cost competitive, the transition moves from being policy-driven to being technology-driven," he said.
"This is a key feature, as it protects the process from political headwinds."
Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada said in a note that the IEA's new projections highlight the "success in pro-renewables legislation".
"Despite this, there is still scope for policymakers to do more to accelerate the energy transition and the phase-out of fossil fuels, with debates continuing across major economies in areas such as renewable returns and affordability," the RBC analysts said.
Ch.Havering--AMWN