European leaders should minimize gas use in the power sector and temporarily ramp up coal- and oil-fired generation while accelerating low-carbon sources to guard against energy market turmoil that has grown “especially perilous,” the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on July 18.
“I’m particularly concerned about the months ahead,” wrote IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol in a statement. While Europe has made some progress in diversifying its gas supplies, it has not been enough, “especially on the demand side, to prevent Europe from finding itself in an incredibly precarious situation today,” Birol said.