US Energy Secretary Wright pressures IEA to quit net zero agenda

By Forrest Crellin and America Hernandez

PARIS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright gave the International Energy Agency on Thursday a one-year deadline to move away from its net zero climate-focused agenda or risk losing the U.S. as a member.

In 2015 the U.S. and nearly 200 other countries signed the Paris Accords, an international pledge to limit global warming by burning less oil, gas, coal, with a goal of reaching 'net zero' greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

"There has been such a group mentality, 10 years invested in a destructive illusion of net zero by 2050, that the US will use all the pressure we have to get the IEA to eventually, in the next year or so, move away from this agenda," Wright said.

Wright added that he did not want to risk China gaining more influence over the agency, which could happen if the U.S. left.

"There's always a risk (that China will gain dominance in the IEA), which is why our goal is not to withdraw," he added.

Wright added that many countries have agreed in private with the U.S. stance to move away from the net zero goals and continue to increase production and consumption of fossil fuels like gas and oil.

"We are certainly seeing a lot of nations, at least privately, talking about wanting to become competitive again, wanting to re-industrialize their countries, wanting to have strong militaries," Wright said.

However, he added some politicians, mostly in Europe, were unlikely to publicly backtrack on their green stances.

"A number of the European nations have staked their political platforms and frankly, their desire to be relevant in some area in the world on a net zero agenda. Only the cold, hard reality, the uprising of people and voting out political parties can change things," Wright said.

Independent advisers at the European Union said on Tuesday that the bloc is not prepared for worsening climate change and should urgently step up its investments to protect people and infrastructure.

Countries' latest national climate pledges, if achieved, would still lead to 2.3 to 2.5 degrees Celsius of global warming this century, according to the U.N.