Global Energy Agency Proposes Carless Sundays to Help Reduce Oil Use

FILE PHOTO: A drilling crew member raises drill pipe onto the drilling rig floor on an oil rig in the Permian Basin near Wink, Texas, on Aug. 22, 2018. REUTERS/Nick Oxford

Adopting a 10-point plan that includes carless Sundays would eliminate 2.7 million barrels of oil consumption per day within four months if fully implemented by advanced nations in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

“If fully carried out in advanced economies, the measures recommended by the IEA’s new 10-Point Plan to Cut Oil Use would lower oil demand by 2.7 million barrels a day within four months, the equivalent to the oil demand for all cars in China,” the IEA said in a statement.

“This would significantly reduce potential strains at a time when a large amount of Russian supplies may no longer reach the market, and the peak demand season of July and August is approaching. The measures would have an even greater effect if adopted in part, or in full, in emerging economies as well.”

Adopting the plan now, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has put Russian supplies of natural gas and oil in question, would also hasten the world economy’s transition from a fossil-fuel energy base to a renewable energy sources foundation and to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, according to the IEA.

The IEA was formed in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 OPEC oil crisis under the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD), which is based in Paris. The United States is one of the IEA’s 31 member-nations.

The IEA’s 10-point plan includes reducing speed limits by at least 6 miles per hour, making public transportation more affordable, encouraging more walking and bicycling, banning cars and trucks from large cities on Sundays, allowing driving vehicles only on odd/even license tag-based schedules, working from home at least three days per week, rewarding carpooling, promoting more efficient supply chains, hastening the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs), using high-speed and night trains instead of aircraft, and avoiding business travel whenever possible.

The claimed savings of 2.7 million barrels of oil per day throughout the advanced nations compares with the U.S. usage of nearly 20 million barrels per day, for a total of 7.22 billion barrels in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The United States, which was a net energy exporter prior to 2021, imported more than 700,000 barrels of Russian oil in 2021. President Joe Biden signed an executive order earlier this month banning Russian oil imports to the United States.

The Energy Department estimates that Russian oil sales, which are primarily to Europe and China, could be reduced by as much as 2.5 million barrels per day, but the agency stated that “losses could increase should restrictions or public condemnation escalate. A prolonged period of volatility for markets appears likely.”

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm reportedly expressed enthusiasm for the IEA plan earlier this week during the agency’s Paris ministerial meeting.

But the IEA plan is drawing strong criticism from members of Congress and U.S. energy experts, who view it as unrealistic and likely to further centralize inefficient bureaucracies in major Western nations.

“It is absurd to expect Americans to skip driving to church on Sundays or to suggest a return to COVID-style shutdowns with people working from home the majority of the workweek," Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told The Epoch Times.

“The correct approach is to encourage the U.S. and our allies to increase domestic oil production. America has been blessed with vast natural resources that allow us to produce affordable energy with lower emissions than Russia. At a time like this, we should be unleashing those resources and ignoring gimmicks like lowering the speed limit on the interstate.”

Palmer noted that the 10-point proposal was likely to reinforce the view that “the people at the IEA are completely out of touch with reality.”

“Whoever came up with the proposal should be relieved of their duties immediately,” he said.

Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) told The Epoch Times that “just like the Biden administration’s anti-energy policy, the IEA’s recommendations are out of touch with reality—particularly for the rural communities that I represent.”

“This mindset that focuses on punishing consumers rather than utilizing our abundant energy resources is exactly backward. The clear answer to this energy crisis is to ramp up domestic supply and regain America’s energy independence.”

Institute for Energy Research (IER) Senior Vice President Dan Kish told The Epoch Times that the IEA “has become a huge part of the problem for the Western nations it supposedly represents.”

“They represent a European collective approach, which has been focused on pushing renewable energy and climate dogma that mainly benefits China,” Kish said. “The 10-point plan can be summed up in their command-and-control approach: ‘Government regulations and mandates have proven to be very effective for successfully implementing these measures in various countries and cities, combined with public information and awareness campaigns.’

“There is no shortage of oil; world-proven reserves are higher than they’ve ever been. If IEA would concentrate on its namesake—energy—rather than ‘non-energy,’ as has been their practice, the world would be a better, safer, more secure place. So far, all they do is cause problems and then propose solutions which increase their power.”

Katie Tubb, a senior policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation’s Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, told The Epoch Times that the IEA plan should be viewed from both a short-term and a longer-term perspective.

“Emphasizing decreasing consumer demand for oil in the near term is in some ways prudent in preparing for potential near-term supply disruptions if Russia decides it will no longer supply to Europe,” Tubb said.

“Certainly as an individual, it is also prudent for me to think of how to change my behavior to deal with that situation in the short-term, but from the longer-term perspective of what IEA is trying to inform both policy-makers and markets, I think it’s utterly irrational.

“It’s a drop in the bucket, and totally unrealistic as far as anyone’s projections about oil—both production and demand—going out to 2050. I don’t think anyone is expecting demand for oil to disappear. It’s expected to increase, and that’s the reality we are dealing with.”

Spokesmen for the Environmental Defense Fund, League of Conservation Voters, and Foreign Policy for America didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment. Spokespersons for four members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee—Reps. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.)—also didn’t respond to a request for comment.