Gabby Brown, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org
For the first time, the International Energy Agency, the world’s leading energy analysis and policy organization, is projecting that we are “witnessing the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era” and that the world will hit peak demand for coal, oil, and gas before 2030. According to an annual IEA report that will be released next month, demand for fossil fuels will decline earlier than many anticipated thanks to volatile oil prices and the rapid increase in clean energy.
However, IEA executive director Fatih Birol also warned that the projected declines in fossil fuel demand are "nowhere near steep enough to put the world on a path to limiting global warming" to the 1.5 degrees Celsius target world leaders including President Biden have agreed to.
This Sunday, thousands of people plan to join the March to End Fossil Fuels to call on President Biden to stop fossil fuel expansion and extraction. The march will take place ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit – a first-of-its-kind meeting hosted by the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is asking heads of state to come with concrete plans to stop developing new oil, gas and coal and begin phasing out fossil fuels once and for all.
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous released the following statement:
“Yet again, a report leaves no room for doubt: we must immediately stop the expansion of fossil fuels. Not one new gas pipeline or oil rig should needlessly threaten communities and our planet when we know that the end of the fossil fuel era is on the horizon. We have the tools to avert the worst of the climate crisis and rapidly transition to a cleaner, more just, more prosperous future by going all-in on clean energy and winding down our use of dirty fuels like coal, oil and gas. Now it’s up to leaders like President Biden to accelerate that transition, not drag us backwards by greenlighting new fossil fuel projects so that a few Big Oil executives can keep collecting big paychecks. This is a critical moment for our planet and for President Biden, and we’ll be marching in the streets this weekend urging him to seize it.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.