The IEA accelerated the publication of its 2021 WEO to come out ahead of the COP 26 climate change summit in Glasgow which is set to be held at the start of next month. The IEA says the report “is designed as a handbook for the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.” And, indeed, the report reads more as an attempt to lobby the IEA’s core European membership in the run up to COP than a serious attempt to deliver on the IEA’s mandate to “enhance the reliability, affordability and sustainability of energy.”
The gap between the IEA’s rhetoric and reality looks particularly stark as regards the coming years: the agency acknowledges that there is currently a massive shortfall in energy investment but its adoption of the ‘Net Zero Emissions by 2050’ scenario as its “normative” policy prescription precludes it from calling for an increase in upstream investment. (CONTINUED - 1210 WORDS)
