IEA Asks Individual People To Reduce Oil Demand

The International Energy Agency released a 10-point list of “emergency measures” to curtail oil demand and mitigate the “biggest oil supply shock in decades” on Friday. The list targets transportation, which accounts for a majority of oil demand, and is a mix of calls for individual action and policy changes, like working from home to cut down on commutes, but also policies supporting EVs and public transit. Like the tobacco industry, fossil fuel companies have worked to shift blame for the harms caused by their products onto individual consumers. The IEA says if all aspects of its plan were adopted global oil demand would fall by 2.7 million barrels per day, about equal to the oil demand of all cars in China. (CNN, The Guardian, Forbes, Reuters, Business Insider, The Verge, New York Times $, CNBC, NPR)