Energy sector at the crossroads amid calls for lower carbon

As pressure to de-carbonise grows, the industry faces a stark choice

At the turn of the 21st century, the fossil fuels business would have been hard pushed to imagine the International Energy Agency (IEA) emerging as a voice leading calls for arresting climate change and curbing carbon emissions. Yet the Paris-based agency is increasingly putting it at the top of the agenda as the weight of scientific evidence tells us that we should expect more frequent and intense extreme weather patterns, and extreme weather events.  The majority of scientists believe that ecological damage – and the collateral economic damage that it will bring – will become unmanageable if long-term average global temperatures rise beyond two degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels. T