Energy groups must stop new oil and gas projects to reach net zero by 2050, IEA says

Energy groups must stop new oil and gas projects to reach net zero by 2050, IEA says

Energy groups must stop all new oil and gas exploration projects from this year if global warming is to be kept in check, the International Energy Agency said.

The proposal is one radical aspect of a scenario outlined by the Paris-based institution in a report released today on ways to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, the level required to keep temperatures from rising above 1.5C.

Aside from drastically cutting fossil fuel consumption, an unprecedented jump in spending on low carbon technologies would also be required — around $5tn in energy investments per year by 2030, up from around $2tn today, the report said. 

“We need a historical surge in investment,” said Fatih Birol, head of the IEA, adding that this would add 0.4 per cent annually to GDP growth. “The bulk of it needs to be in clean energy.”

The IEA’s Net Zero report comes as the institution founded in 1974 as the oil watchdog for Western countries has faced pressure from climate activists to produce a road map to the target.

It details an overhaul of energy supply and demand whereby coal demand would plunge by 90 per cent, gas demand would halve and oil demand would shrink nearly 75 per