Press release

The World Energy Council welcomes the
IEA's 2011 World Energy Outlook

The World Energy Council (WEC) welcomes the IEA's 2011 World Energy Outlook. The findings in this report demonstrate once again the importance of coherent analysis and the need to highlight trends and gaps in the global energy sector. In welcoming the report WEC Secretary General, Dr. Christoph Frei says;

"We share the concerns about the lack of progress towards a global climate framework that provides clear long-term signals for energy infrastructure investments. This view mirrors the findings of our annual Issues Survey in highlighting this area as the biggest critical uncertainty for the energy sector world-wide."

Going on to discuss some of the projections in the report Frei added;

"We are concerned about the slow take up of the Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) challenge. Coal use is still steadily increasing and failure to deliver in this area has the potential to blow a big hole in the climate mitigation roadmap."

Looking at transport policy he comments;

"We can no longer afford to preserve transport from effective policies as this sector contributes one fourth of total CO₂ emissions and is rapidly growing. Our own scenarios show that clear policy leadership has the potential to make a significant difference. The time is right for policy makers to provide this leadership."