IEA expects fossil fuel demand to peak this decade

Oil drilling rigs

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will accelerate a peak in the world’s consumption of fossil fuels, the Financial Times reported.

Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the IEA, said the world was fast approaching a “pivotal moment in energy history” as demand for the fossil fuels that have underpinned the modern economy since the advent of the industrial evolution nears an inflection point.

“After rapid growth in gas consumption in the last 10 years, we think the golden age of gas is coming to an end,” Birol said. “Together with the decline in coal and oil that we were already expecting, we now see a peak around 2030 for all fossil fuels.”

Birol said government energy policies were rapidly evolving in part to counter the fallout from Russia’s decision to weaponise its gas supplies to Europe in retaliation for western support for Ukraine. The IEA head described the policy shift as a change that would resonate for “decades to come”.