Things are going to be rough for a while, the International Energy Agency warned on Wednesday. While clean energy investments are increasing, those increases “are not enough to replace fossil fuels,” the agency’s head Fatih Birol said. The IEA also criticized oil companies for failing to invest more heavily in clean energy, especially in light of record profits.
“High prices are generating an unprecedented windfall, especially for oil and gas suppliers,” the report said. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for producer economies to fund diversification activities and for the major oil and gas companies to deliver more diversified spending.” Birol also warned the likelihood of energy rationing being needed in Europe this winter is growing and urged the continent’s leaders to prepare for the complete shut-off of methane-based gas from Russia. (New York Times $, Axios, BBC, Washington Post $, Wall Street Journal $, FT $, Reuters; Russian gas shutoffs: New York Times $, CNBC)