The United States reiterates its threat to withdraw from the International Energy Agency

During the two days of a ministerial meeting in Paris, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright stressed that the IEA must return to its primary mission: ensuring energy security.

The OECD's energy agency, based in Paris, the IEA was founded in 1974 to coordinate responses to oil supply problems following the 1973 oil shock.

The United States under the new Trump administration, which is climate-skeptical and pro-fossil fuels, considers that the IEA, under the leadership of its executive director Fatih Birol, has deviated from its mission by publishing scenarios in recent years to achieve carbon neutrality and by anticipating a peak in the consumption of oil, gas and coal before or around 2030.

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

"The United States will use all the pressure at our disposal to get the IEA to move away" from this work "within about a year," Chris Wright said at a press conference, calling carbon neutrality a "destructive illusion."

"If the IEA is not able to refocus on the mission of energy honesty, access to energy and energy security, then, unfortunately, we will become a former member of the IEA," he warned.

Carbon neutrality - the balance between carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted and CO2 absorbed - is nevertheless a condition for achieving the most ambitious goal of the Paris climate agreement of limiting global warming to 1,5°C compared to pre-industrial levels.

But the minister, a former executive in the hydraulic fracturing sector, estimated that there was "0,0% chance" that "zero emissions" would be achieved.

Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Sophie Hermans, who chaired the meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, told AFP that the IEA's task was to provide governments with "all scenarios" - including that of carbon neutrality - so that they can make informed decisions.

No final communiqué

"I think we need to know what the consequences are of the choices we make or don't make," she said.

French Economy and Finance Minister Roland Lescure, for his part, said he was "convinced (...) that ways of reaching an agreement could be found" with the United States.

The summit ended without a final communiqué, a first since 2017.

A simple summary document specifies that a "large majority" of ministers "emphasized the importance of the energy transition to combat climate change and highlighted the transition (...) towards carbon neutrality".

But it only mentions "carbon neutrality" once and makes far less reference to climate change and renewable energy than the communiqué from the 2024 meeting.

The IEA publishes reports on the oil and gas market, as well as annual global energy outlooks and reports that include data on the growth of solar and wind energy.

Mr. Wright welcomed the IEA's reintroduction, in its annual outlook last November, of a scenario for oil and gas demand growth over the next few decades, a scenario that had been abandoned for the past five years. However, this report still included a scenario in which the world achieves carbon neutrality by 2050.

In a press conference, IEA chief Fatih Birol said his agency "will continue to have several scenarios", examining investments, capital requirements and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions.

He added that he had not yet discussed with his team what would be included in the upcoming annual outlook.

"We haven't even thought about it yet, (...) it's a bit of a long-term process," he said.

With his four-year term ending in 2027, the US Secretary of State remained vague on who he would like to see lead the Agency. "To date, we remain undecided or neutral (...) What matters to us is the mission much more than the leaders themselves," he said.