With governments scrambling to shore up their domestic energy supplies, many have doubled down on fossil fuel extraction while delaying climate action plans.
The 2022 update of the IEA’s ‘Net Zero by 2050’ road map shows that due to accelerating reductions in the cost of renewables and storage and other technologies, the total gas use globally by 2030 needs to be at least 30 per cent below 2021 levels - about 45 per cent faster than estimated a year ago.
However, massive expansion of LNG plans could harm this goal, with the CAT analysis finding that the facilities currently under construction – coupled with future expansion plans – would significantly increase emissions beyond the maximum thresholds contained in the Paris Agreement.
It is estimated that by 2030, oversupply could reach almost five times the EU’s current imports of gas from Russia last year and over double Russia’s total exports.
Following its invasion of Ukraine, and the consequent sanctions...