Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), has warned Europe to be ready for Russia to completely cut off gas supplies, the Financial Times reports. In an interview with the paper, Birol said: “Europe should be ready in case Russian gas is completely cut off… I believe the cuts are geared towards avoiding Europe filling storage, and increasing Russia’s leverage in the winter months.“ The paper continues: “Birol said emergency measures taken by European countries this week to reduce gas demand, such as firing up old coal-fired power stations, were justified by the scale of the crisis despite concerns about rising carbon emissions. He said the increase in coal-fired generation was ‘temporary’ and would help preserve gas supplies for heating in winter. Any additional CO2 emissions from burning highly polluting coal would be offset by an acceleration in Europe’s plans to cut its reliance on imported fossil fuels and to build up renewable generation capacity, he added. But he warned that the steps taken by European governments so far probably did not go far enough if Russian exports were completely severed, and said countries should do everything possible to preserve supplies now to ensure storage could be filled ahead of the winter months.” 

Guest post from Financial Times