Tackling climate change will "rebound" up the international agenda after years of backsliding in Europe and the rest of the world, International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol tells Ian Johnston ahead of the COP31 climate conference in Antalya.
Europe heads to COP31 next week to advance past agreements to triple renewables capacity and double energy efficiency improvements by 2030, as well as pursue new ambitions to increase electrification across the world. "In the last two to three years, climate change was sliding down the international agenda, despite the increasing number of extreme weather events . . . now I am seeing that we are going to see a rebound," Birol said.
The comments come after US President Donald Trump, who has twice pulled his country out of the Paris Agreement, received a historic humbling from voters in midterm elections this week. Brazil's progressive President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also won a surprise re-election last month in a further boost for global climate action. Meanwhile, energy security concerns and high prices linked to the war in Iran are contributing to faster renewables build-out, growing momentum for nuclear energy and higher electric vehicle sales, Birol said. "I have rarely seen the energy security policy objectives and the climate objectives so closely aligned," he added.
Birol's optimism comes despite backsliding on climate ambition in Europe and limited EU ambitions for Antalya. Member states are expected to back an Irish compromise proposal to delay new rules on methane leaks and flaring linked to oil and gas imports until 2028. EU climate chief Kurt Vandenberghe said divisions within Europe over how fast to cut carbon emissions were leading to "awkward outcomes" for climate policy, criticising the watering down of the EU's combustion engine phaseout.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing