Climate chaos certain if oil and gas mega-projects go ahead, warns IEA chief

theguardian.com:

The world’s leading energy economist has warned against investing in large new oil and gas developments, which would have little impact on the current energy crisis and soaring fuel prices but spell devastation to the planet.

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), was responding to an investigation in the Guardian that revealed fossil fuel companies were planning huge “carbon bomb” projects that would drive climate catastrophe.

He said countries must seek to replace Russian oil and gas in the near term without damaging their long-term prospects.

“I understand some countries may look at new fossil fuels but they should remember it takes many years to start production,” he said. “[Such projects] are not the solution to our urgent energy security needs and they will lock in fossil fuel use.”

Revelations by the Guardian show nearly 200 carbon bomb projects are in planning, or have already started pumping, that will result in at least 1bn tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over their lifetimes, equivalent to about 18 years of current global emissions.

Companies pursuing such developments could end up with uneconomic stranded assets, Birol warned. “If the world is to succeed in moving to net zero, these projects may fail to recover their upfront development costs,” he said in an interview with the Guaridan.

Soaring global energy prices have led governments to seek new sources of fossil fuels. “I do understand why countries are reacting like this,” he said. “But there is the issue of the time horizon.”

Big new exploratory projects for oil, gas and coal would take years to produce any fuel and could lock in high greenhouse gas emissions for decades, Birol warned.

“The most suitable projects are