Investment in new fossil-fuel supply projects must immediately cease if the world is going to slash net carbon emissions to zero by 2050, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.
The Paris-based energy watchdog also said in a report that hitting the net-zero target would require a rapid acceleration of wind and solar capacity and a halt in sales of combustion-engine cars by 2035.
The IEA said hitting net-zero emissions is crucial in limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels—a goal laid out in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
The U.S. rejoined that agreement earlier this year and is proposing to halve its emissions by the end of the decade. Other signatories such as the European Union and the U.K. have said they plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Major companies across several high-polluting sectors have set similar net-zero goals ahead of the United Nations’ COP26 climate conference later this year.
However, the IEA said that climate pledges by governments so far—even if fully achieved—would fall well short of reaching net-zero emissions by the middle of this century.