Founded in 1974 in the wake of the first oil crisis of that decade, the Paris-based IEA produces forward-looking scenarios documenting the transition to renewable fuels that set the standard for the energy world. Wright will be in Paris Wednesday and Thursday to attend a ministerial meeting of the agency.
“We don’t need a net-zero scenario, that’s ridiculous, that’s never going to happen,” Wright continued.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025 advocating fossil fuel use and rolling back green rules, the international body has been in the crosshairs of his administration, which has pressured IEA leaders to abandon work on the energy transition.
In its latest annual report, the IEA in November seemed to take those demands into account, reintroducing a scenario based on current trends. It has also taken a different approach to peak oil: Whereas it had predicted peak use in the 2030s, it now anticipates that demand will continue to grow until the middle of the century.
This isn’t the first time Wright has warned the agency about its work. “We’re going to change the way the IEA operates, or we’re going to pull out,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg last July.
This article was initially published in French for POLITICO and was adapted by Tom Nicholson.