Influential study sees momentum ebbing on cutting global CO2 emissions

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🗞️ Driving the news: The International Energy Agency (IEA) warns in its latest World Energy Outlook that momentum toward cutting global CO₂ emissions is stalling
• Despite rapid growth in renewables and electric vehicles, global oil and gas demand is still projected to rise through 2050 under current policies

🔭 The context: The report arrives as governments head into critical climate negotiations with widening gaps between climate pledges and actual energy-system trajectories
• While clean-energy deployment is accelerating, the IEA finds that policy follow-through remains weak, fossil-fuel subsidies are persisting, and geopolitical tensions are reinforcing short-term reliance on oil and gas

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: If oil and gas demand continues rising into mid-century:

• Global emissions will not peak this decade, putting the 1.5°C goal far beyond reach
• Energy systems will lock in long-lived fossil infrastructure, increasing stranded-asset and climate-risk exposure
• Emerging economies will face rising vulnerability to price shocks, air pollution, and climate impacts

• The IEA stresses that achieving net zero requires “policy courage” and much faster scaling of clean technologies, efficiency, and electrification.

⏭️ What’s next: The agency calls for:

• A tripling of renewable energy capacity by 2030
• Stronger efficiency mandates and grid investments
• Rapid phase-down of unabated coal and limits on new fossil-fuel projects
• Major boosts to clean-tech finance for developing economies

• Whether governments act will shape both climate outcomes and energy-market stability for decades.

💬 One quote: IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol warns that current trends reflect “a dangerous misconception that the energy transition is somehow on autopilot”

📈 One stat: Even with record EV adoption and renewable deployment, global fossil-fuel use is still set to grow to 2050 without new policies

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