The Climate Bonus

5Secure and safe energy

Adapting to Peak Oil

Key messages

• Continued dependence on fossil fuels poses risks for energy security. Production of conventional oil may have already peaked, and the best remaining reserves are concentrated in a small number of countries. Other countries will be increasingly forced to rely on lower-quality unconventional sources such as tar sands, and remote sources in sensitive areas such as deep-water, arctic and rainforest oil. Extraction will be more expensive, energy-intensive and environmentally damaging. As a result, there is a consensus that we face a future of rising oil prices, more frequent supply disruptions and escalating oil-related conflict. Similar trends are seen for gas and coal, with a shift to more ...