If the investment in fossil energy cannot be stopped this year, the world will face the risk of rising temperatures.

Such a bold forecast comes from the National Energy Agency (IEA). Ironically, this institution was born more than 40 years ago in an industrialized country in order to guarantee its own oil supply. Now it seems to want to draw an end to the soil where it was born.

The report entitled "Net Zero by 2050, A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector" was called by the Director of the International Energy Agency Fatih Birol as "one of the most important reports of the agency in 50 years." It explains the measures IEA believes should be taken to avoid the global climate crisis, and how far the world is from this goal. Birol believes that this report shows the huge challenges facing humanity in achieving near-zero emissions in the middle of this century.
 

IEA believes that in the next ten years, the annual growth of energy efficiency must be three times faster than it is now. Within 30 years, the role of fossil energy should be completely reversed-by the middle of this century, from 80% of today's global energy demand to 20%. If the world hopes to achieve near-zero emissions before the middle of this century, then starting from 2021, there should be no new investment in fossil energy. This is probably the biggest warning to curb fossil energy at the moment.

In addition, the IEA also stated that sales of internal combustion engine vehicles must end before 2035. The scale of electric vehicles will expand from the current 5% to 60% in 2030. By 2050, global oil demand will drop to 24 million barrels per day.

What makes the IEA so extreme in reducing emissions is because they believe that if near-zero emissions cannot be achieved within the next thirty years, the global temperature will rise by 2.1 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

The IEA's idea of ​​fossil energy is very different from that of large companies. Although BP, Shell, Total and other companies have set a near-zero emission target by 2050. But in these three decades, they will continue to invest in new oil and gas fields. The IEA obviously has to take a path without new oil and gas resources.

IEA believes that future oil and gas production will be increasingly concentrated in a few low-cost oil-producing countries, namely the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. And as demand decreases, oil prices will also fall sharply. This will put additional pressure on the finances of producing countries.