REUTERS EVENTS Reducing oil use to meet climate targets is tougher than cutting supply – Reuters

REUTERS EVENTS Reducing oil use to meet climate targets is tougher than cutting supply – Reuters

NEW YORK/LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) - Governments around the world have been slow to take uncomfortable decisions to persuade consumers to cut energy consumption to help achieve climate targets, often because consumers are not ready to pay up or compromise their lifestyles.

Researchers, policy makers and energy executives told a Reuters Energy Transition conference this week that while energy companies were under pressure to accelerate measures to reduce emissions, governments have barely addressed reducing demand for the fossil fuels that warm the planet.

Several major energy firms have committed to reducing output of oil and gas - with BP (BP.L) pledging to reduce production by 40% by 2030 - as part of a legally binding international treaty on climate change, known as the Paris agreement, to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably to 1.5 degrees.