International Energy Agency Says Nations Need to Conserve Fuel Globally

The leader of a key international organization warned on Friday that the war in Ukraine has set in motion the first global energy crisis of its kind and that nations around the world must respond by reducing their use of oil and gas.

Established after the 1973 oil crisis to ensure a stable energy market around the world, the International Energy Agency said that the repercussions of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will intensify over the next few months as the summer season continues with stockpiles. at historical lows.

“Reducing demand is just a way of addressing the situation without pumping more oil,” said Fatih Birol, the agency’s executive director.

That’s a message largely missing from the conversation in the United States, the world’s largest oil producer, where fossil fuel companies are making healthy profits and rising gasoline prices are calling for more production.

Dr. Birol said the energy crisis will likely intensify and this is different from the 1973 oil shortage because it includes not only oil but also natural gas affecting transportation and electricity, and because countries are now more interconnected, a disruption in supply has a greater impact on global markets. may have an effect.

On Friday, the agency recommended 10 urgent steps countries can take to save oil, such as reducing speed limits, allowing people to work from home up to three days a week, and urging travelers to take the train instead of the plane whenever possible. Proposed measures include car-free Sundays in cities, car pooling, and discounts on public transport fares.

The agency found that developed economies could reduce oil demand by 2.7 million barrels per day if they implemented all 10 recommendations. That equates to an estimated 2.5 million barrels of Russian oil per day, which is expected to disappear from global markets over the next few months as buyers avoid it. The agency also called for a number of structural, long-term changes, including prioritizing electric heat pumps and electric vehicles.

In the European Union, which has been providing nearly 40 percent of its natural gas and more than a quarter of its crude oil from Russia in recent years, leaders encourage citizens to save energy. “Everybody can do something,” Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Union’s executive arm, said at a news conference last week. “Reducing our overall energy consumption, the individual contribution of 450 million Europeans is a huge pile.”

In the United States, one of several calls for protection came from Hawaii County mayor Mitch Roth, who was particularly vulnerable to rising energy prices after President Biden outlawed Russian oil, gas and coal. The state of Hawaii relies heavily on Russian fuel, and the high cost of living is causing many families to struggle to pay their bills. So Mr. Roth turned to what he saw as a common sense solution: asking his community to use less oil and gas.

“We don’t enforce anything,” said Mr Roth, who has jurisdiction over the island of Hawaii, known as the Big Island. But it makes a lot of sense for the good of your checkbook, for the good of our community, for the good of our country, and for the good of our world.”

There’s Mr. Biden He urged oil companies to increase production Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm delivered the message in person to the fossil fuel managers meeting in Houston last week. Mr. Biden has criticized companies this week for the slow decline in pump prices despite oil prices falling.

Administration officials argue that in the long term, the United States should move away from fossil fuels and develop more solar, wind and other clean energy sources.

“We know we cannot escape dependence on a global commodity controlled in part by foreign countries and their leaders, so the administration is determined to accelerate, not slow, our transition to a clean energy future.” Charisma Troiano, Ms. Granholm’s spokesperson.

Many experts say that clean energy is the ultimate solution to fight global warming and reduce energy dependence on other countries. But it can’t be online fast enough to meet the urgent demand. To make things worse, countries were already far behind On the emissions reductions needed to meet the Paris Agreement, a global commitment aimed at avoiding the worst effects of climate change.

From the International Energy Agency, Dr. “We must not forget a third crisis, namely the climate crisis,” said Birol, while Western countries are trying to cope with the humanitarian crisis and energy problems stemming from the war in Ukraine. As a result, all of the 10 measures we put on the table not only relieve the tightness in the crude oil market, but also pave the way for reaching our climate targets,” he said.

A White House spokesperson declined to comment on whether Mr Biden planned to urge Americans to conserve energy, which is considered political risks.

A handful of Democrats in Congress spoke of the protection. “We need to talk about lowering demand,” said Florida Democratic Representative Kathy Castor. “If we lower demand, it really drains the power of these petro-tyrants to control our lives.”

Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, which represents oil and gas companies, said she associates energy conservation with deprivation.

“I mean, we never want people to waste energy,” he said in an interview. “But do you want to tell the American people that they can’t drive to school or work or heat their homes? So everything on your table is the product of oil and natural gas.”

Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College, said he would face a certain backlash if Mr. Biden urged Americans to conserve energy, especially as the country emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

“People are closed off to the whole concept of masks, so the message of personal sacrifice – the need to somehow change their behavior – is getting into a freedom debate that the White House doesn’t want to approach right now,” Dr. said Miringoff.

At a time when the midterm elections are approaching and Republicans are already using high gas prices to attack Mr. Biden’s policies, Dr. Asking Americans to conserve energy is not a winning strategy, Miringoff said.

The November election poses high risks to Mr. Biden’s climate agenda. Republicans have shown little appetite for tackling global warming. If they take control of one or both houses of Congress, their chances of enacting policies that will cut the greenhouse gases that are dangerously warming the planet will drop dramatically.

For many Democrats, the 1980 presidential election is seen as a cautionary tale. President Jimmy Carter wearing a famous sweater and asking Americans to follow his lead and turn off their thermostats. Energy shortages in the 1970s, blocked in the race for a second term. The Senate also came under Republican control.

“This has wreaked havoc in the political system that we haven’t been able to fully recover from,” said Jay Hakes, who runs the U.S. Energy Information Administration under President Bill Clinton and runs the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. “Of course, Biden was there at the time.”

But such fears eliminate an important energy-saving tool, added Dr. Recalling public service advertisements in the 1970s that encouraged Americans to drive at 50 or 55 miles per hour and keep their thermostats at 68 degrees, Hakes said. The slogan was:Don’t be fueled”

Half a century later, the world has “a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all,” the scientists wrote. latest big report The report, by 270 researchers from 67 countries from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, warned that climate change is wreaking havoc on the planet faster than humans can adapt.

“Everyone is talking about emissions reductions, but if fossil fuels production is stable, you wonder where these emissions reductions come from,” said Hans-Otto Pörtner, a physiologist and one of the report’s co-chairs.

Dr. Pörtner spoke from his home in northern Germany, wearing a sweater and a jacket as his wife lowered the temperature to save energy. Dr. Such measures are “low hanging fruit,” Pörtner said.

He said he hopes policymakers will use the Russian occupation as an impetus to accelerate the transition to clean energy.

Dr. “If we forget about the existential threats associated with climate change, then we really are in trouble,” Pörtner said.