GOP Lawmakers to IEA: Stop Promoting Energy Transition

A report was released Monday by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, that shows how the International Energy Agency has become an advocate for transitioning from fossil fuels, instead of doing its job of providing energy security.

"Since 2020, however, IEA's leadership has placed greater emphasis on achieving 'net zero' international climate goals. This new focus on an unachievable global energy transformation, urged by environmental groups and other non-governmental organizations, has caused IEA to veer away sharply from its energy security mission," the report says.

Barrasso and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., sent a letter earlier this year to IEA Director Dr. Fatih Birol pressing him to return the agency to its core mission.

"By its own admission, the IEA has placed greater emphasis on 'build[ing] net-zero emission energy systems to comply with internationally agreed climate goals.' Climate change is an extraordinarily complex issue deserving IEA's attention. Excessive focus on an 'energy transition,' however, has led the IEA to veer away from objectively informing and educating policymakers and toward promoting an agenda with little regard to its implications for economic growth and energy security," the letter said.

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