The IEA’s ‘Net Zero’ Roadmap Analyzed

The IEA’s ‘Net Zero’ Roadmap Analyzed

Engraving of various types of windmills in a Flemish town, circa 1580. (Photo by Library of ... [+] Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images) In May 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) – the West's energy advisory body established in the wake of the 1973 oil price shock — issued an astonishing report entitled "Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector." It espoused an end to all new investments in oil and gas (let alone coal) from 2021. The IEA "road-map" was, as expected, met with strong support from "climate emergency" alarmists. For instance, Climate Action 100+, a group of investors with $68 trillion in assets under management, hailed the report as a "watershed moment" and reiterated the IEA's call for an immediate end to new investment in fossil fuels. Among industry practitioners, however, it led to widespread ridicule. The Saudi oil minister, for instance, called the report a sequel to "La La Land". It is no surprise that assessments of the report are polarized between those within the climate industrial complex and those outside. We now have a forensic analysis of the IEA report conducted by the Energy Policy Research Foundation published last week. It was funded