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US to West's energy watchdog: scrap net zero focus or we'll quit

20 February 2026 10:21 (UTC +04:00)

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright gave the International Energy Agency on Thursday a one-year deadline to scrap its support of goals to reduce energy emissions to net zero or risk losing the United States as a member, APA reports, citing Reuters.

European countries played down the threat at the agency's biennial meeting and restated their commitment to pursuing cleaner fuel.

"There has been such a group mentality, 10 years invested in a destructive illusion of net zero by 2050, that the U.S. 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.

The Paris-based IEA was formed after the 1970s oil supply crisis and provides research and data to the U.S. and other industrialised governments to guide energy policy.

The U.S. has paid about $6 million (5.10 million euros) per year in IEA dues, out of a total agency budget of $22 million.

U.S. President Donald Trump has rejected international efforts to tackle global warming and sought to unfetter the development of fossil fuels and stymie the rollout of renewable energy.