In Paris, the United States is urging the International Energy Agency to "drop" climate change

Since the return of Donald Trump, the IEA, the OECD agency based in Paris, has found itself in the crosshairs of the new American administration, notoriously climate-skeptical and pro-fossil fuels.

Last year, the minister threatened to withdraw the United States from the IEA - founded in 1974 to coordinate responses to oil supply problems after the 1973 oil shock - unless it reformed.

As the world's leading producer of black gold, the United States represents a major contributor to the institution led by its 33 founding members.

The IEA was created "to focus on energy security," Mr. Wright insisted at the OECD headquarters in Paris during an IEA ministerial meeting.

"This mission is more than crucial and I am here to implore all members (of the IEA) to keep the IEA focused on this absolutely critical mission," said the former fracking magnate.

Mr. Wright reiterated his criticisms of the shift made in recent years by the Agency through its scenarios and reports describing a decline in fossil fuels and a massive rise in renewable energies.

One of them, outlining the path to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, a condition for curbing climate change, had ruffled the feathers of the hydrocarbon sector.

The minister also indicated that he wanted to obtain the support of "all the nations of this noble organization to work with us, to push the IEA to abandon climate change. That's politics."

Earlier, IEA executive director Fatih Birol insisted that his agency was a "data-driven" organization.

"We are a non-political organization," he added.

To be "irresistible" to electricity

The IEA publishes monthly reports on the oil market, annual global energy outlooks, and thematic analyses, on wind and solar energy, among others.

The minister also praised Mr. Birol for having reintroduced, in the annual outlook last November, a scenario examining the growth of oil and gas demand - removed in 2020.

In an interview with AFP on Tuesday, he said that the IEA had taken "first steps" but still had "a long way to go".

But the US official maintained his criticism, telling reporters on Wednesday: "The IEA has been infected by a kind of climate cult."

President Donald Trump, who has called global warming a hoax, withdrew the United States from the UN's foundational climate treaty and, last week, dismantled the legal basis for US climate rules.

His minister also used his time in Paris to challenge the consensus on climate science. "This belief that climate change is urgent, that it is causing catastrophic damage today and that we must drop everything to focus exclusively on it: I can tell you that nothing, absolutely nothing in the climate data supports this," he said.

The EU's Copernicus climate observatory says the last three years have been the warmest ever recorded globally, due to increased greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the planet to warm up.

Experts warn that rising global temperatures are leading to hotter summers, more frequent flooding, more violent storms, and increasingly devastating forest fires and droughts.

In a sign that not all nations share Mr. Wright's view, British Energy Secretary Ed Miliband announced that the UK would contribute an additional £12 million ($16 million) to the IEA's Clean Energy Transition Programme. "The era of electricity is unstoppable," Mr. Miliband said. For many countries, "clean energy is the safest and most affordable way to meet this growing demand for energy in the long term."