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Opinion
Clara Ferreira Marques

Russia Is Set to Lose the Energy War It Started

In its annual World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency couldn’t be clearer: Russia’s war in Ukraine has changed the landscape for good

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency

Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

With the world facing its first truly global energy crisis, the International Energy Agency’s annual World Energy Outlook could hardly be clearer: There’s no going back to markets and trade flows as they were. We’re still underspending on the green transition, but policies today mean fossil fuel use could peak within a decade. The upside for coal is temporary, the golden era for gas is over. 

And the clearest loser is Russia.