LONDON: The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Monday, July 5, that a rebound in the global gas demand after the record fall last year has threatened the climate goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. It added that natural gas demand is set to rebound strongly in 2021 and will keep on increasing if the authorities do not implement strong policies to keep the mission on track.
The demand of natural gas is set to increase by 3.6 per cent in 2021 as the global economies are set to recover after record fall in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2022-24, the demand is expected to grow by 1.7 per cent per year. In May, the IEA had published a method to meet net zero emission target and said investors should not fund new oil, gas and coal supply projects.
Over the past month, the global gas prices have soared to record high due to high temperatures driving the demand for power generation in the northern hemisphere. In a report, IEA said that the gas industry should increase its efforts to reduce the emissions via various methods such as addressing methane leaks.