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Ever bigger cars pose a growing problem for the environment because they produce more greenhouse gas emissions and need larger batteries than their smaller cousins, according to the International Energy Agency. The Paris-based body suggested Monday that it's time for the car industry to downsize its vehicles, citing data that showed the world's 330 million sports utility vehicles, or SUVs, pumped out almost 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2022. That's more than the annual emissions of an industrial nation like Germany. The shift towards heavier and less fuel-efficient conventional vehicles increases growth in both oil demand and CO2 emissions," the agency said, noting that SUVs consume about a fifth more gasoline than an average medium-sized car. Between 2021 and 2022, oil use in conventional cars, excluding SUVs, remained roughly the same, but the oil consumption of SUVs globally increased by 500,000 barrels per day, accounting for one-third of the total growth in oil .
The International Energy Agency on Tuesday accused fossil fuel industries of doing too little to curb methane emissions and undermining global climate goals to limit warming. Economic uncertainty, high energy prices and concerns over security of supply, which would have led to emissions cuts in 2022, were ineffective as methane emissions remained stubbornly high, the report said. Methane cuts are among the cheapest options to limit near-term global warming," said IEA's executive director Fatih Birol. "There is just no excuse. The IEA's annual Methane Gas Tracker found that 75 per cent of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector can be reduced with far cheaper and readily available technologies. Methane, which makes up natural gas, can escape into the air from oil and gas infrastructure. Fossil fuel companies may also flare or burn off excess gas that can release methane into the atmosphere. The report slammed oil and gas majors' refusal to pay up the some USD 100 billion need
Spiralling energy costs caused by various economic factors and the Ukraine war could be a turning point toward cleaner energy, the International Energy Agency said in a report Thursday. The Paris-based organisation found the global demand for fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and natural gas, is set to peak or plateau in the next few decades. The report looked at scenarios based on current policies and said that coal use will fall back within the next few years, natural gas demand will reach a plateau by the end of the decade and rising sales of electric vehicles mean that the need for oil will level off in the mid-2030s before ebbing slightly by mid-century. Total emissions are currently going up each year, but slowly. "Energy markets and policies have changed as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, not just for the time being, but for decades to come, said the IEA's executive director Fatih Birol. A surge in demand following COVID-19 pandemic restrictions lifting and ...