IEA director: Claims 1.5C is dead ‘unhelpful’ and ‘politically wrong’

Executive Director of the world’s intergovernmental energy agency has rubbished claims the 1.5°C climate target is now unrealistic, calling them ‘politically wrong’.

COP27 may have closed with the much fought for loss and damage fund, but the failure to commit to phase out oil and gas left many feeling the 1.5C target is now unreachable.

But International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol has said activists and scientists making these claims are spreading the rhetoric of the fossil fuel industry.

He told the Guardian: ‘I find the emerging chorus of this unusual coalition of people saying 1.5C is dead factually and politically wrong. They are jumping to conclusions that are not borne out by the data.’

Birol added that the claims could impact the shift to net-zero and could put off investors and financial institutions from going green.

‘Proponents of the existing energy systems will be the beneficiaries if the obituary of 1.5C is written,’ he said.

According to the IEA head, if all countries’ energy net-zero targets are met temperatures could rise by 1.7°C, close to the 1.5°C target.

The agency recently released data which showed how the invasion of Ukraine is causing a quicker transition to renewable energy, as nations seek energy independence.

Analysis found global carbon emissions are expected to peak by 2025 due to the rapid increase in clean investments.

However, Birol did admit that COP27 had not resulted in strong clean energy commitments and said nations must work to keep the 1.5°C goal in sight. The IEA said last year that no new oil and gas projects can go ahead if that target is going to be met.

The UK and Europe are thought to have pushed to strengthen the 1.5°C limit but were met with pushback, mainly from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, as well as China and Brazil.

Photo by Sungrow EMEA