Daily Energy Report

WEF admits climate goals retreat, US crude/product inventories, China’s oil imports, More Russian sanctions, Houthis sink coal ship, Nat gas flaring, Summer travel, Electricity costs rise, and more.

Chart of the Day: Evidence of the Retreat from Climate Goals

Summary

The World Economic Forum, the group that is pushing the most for an energy transition in the hopes it will slow climate change, issued a report yesterday in which it ranked countries based on their success in their transition. Figure (1) shows the index they created for the world, called The Energy Transition Index Momentum. It shows a large decrease in the last two years. 

EOA’s Main Takeaway

Our clients and readers have gotten tired of us in talking about the retreat form climate goals in the last few years. We predicted months before COP28 that the climate narrative would shift, and it has. While we see the retreat from unrealistic climate goals by companies and governments every day in the news, nothing tops the admission from the WEF that the retreat indeed is happening. The decline in growth is 76% since 2022. 

The implications are huge! This retreat means higher demand for oil, gas, and coal, exceeding earlier expectations. It proves that the recent 5-year forecast of the IEA is wrong. More importantly, it demonstrates that the approach itself, which predicts the of peak oil demand in 2029, is also incorrect.

Three observations stand out from the data provided by the WEF on the ranking of countries: