US opposes ‘dangerous’ anti-fossil fuel policies at global summit

The US opposes net zero mania while China, Saudi Arabia and Russia didn’t even attend. The article doesn’t mention the climate but waffles about ‘clean’ (lots of mining?) energy and ‘security’ (undersea cables, offshore wind turbines?). Renewables are as expensive to deploy and as part-time as ever, but advocates always try to sidestep that. Hydrogen and biofuels will never scale up to replace traditional fuels due to high cost and energy intensity of production, and other factors.
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An international summit on the future of energy security opened in London on Thursday with stark opposition from Washington, which called policies to phase out fossil fuels “harmful and dangerous”, says Phys.org.

Profound differences emerged at the two-day International Energy Agency (IEA) meeting over the role of renewables in satisfying the world’s thirst for energy.

The meeting takes place amid global economic turmoil sparked by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and uncertainty surrounding US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

“Some want to regulate every form of energy besides the so-called renewables, completely out of existence… We oppose these harmful and dangerous policies. This is not energy security,” Tommy Joyce, US Acting Assistant Secretary of Energy for International Affairs, told the conference.

That contrasted to a more moderate message from IEA executive director Fatih Birol in opening remarks at the summit, co-hosted by the UK.

“Every economy has its own pathway for energy. We should understand and respect it,” he said.

Birol added also that “oil and gas are key parts of our energy mix, and they will remain as part of the energy mix in years to come.”

The IEA said in its own forecast in 2023 that fossil fuel demand would peak before 2030.

Meanwhile, British Energy Secretary Ed Miliband welcomed “low carbon energy” as playing “a critical role in delivering energy security”.

“As long as energy can be weaponized against us, our countries and our citizens are vulnerable and exposed,” he added. [Talkshop comment – how does importing renewables and batteries from China fit into that concept?]

Several energy ministers from European countries attended the gathering, including 120 senior government officials, business leaders, and experts.

The United States was only represented by acting deputy secretaries of state, while China, Saudi Arabia and Russia skipped the event altogether.
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OPEC, whose membership is dominated by oil-producing Gulf states, believes that energy security must be achieved by adding renewable energy sources to existing fossil fuels, not by replacing them.

Full article here.