European demand for oil must be reduced by over 50 percent by 2050, a European Union (EU) committee said on Friday.
In an opinion requested by the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), a consultative assembly within the EU, called for a massive reduction of oil demand in Europe year by year over the next 40 years, Xinhua reported.
"The objective must be to reduce oil demand by more than 50 percent by 2050," the EESC said.
Derek Osborn, rapporteur of the opinion, said that in order to prevent a climate change crisis and deal with diminishing oil resources, global oil demand must stop growing within a few years and then decline steadily to much lower levels by the mid century.
Describing the EU's climate change and energy package as a good start, Osborn called for a further set of measures.
EU leaders clinched a final deal on an ambitious climate change and energy package at their summit in December, under which the EU must reduce by 20 percent greenhouse emissions, increase the rate of renewables' consumption to 20 percent and lower by 20 percent the consumption of traditional energy by the year 2020.
In the opinion, which the European Parliament will discuss later this month, the EESC made concrete proposals to reduce European oil demand in key sectors, such as transport, construction and power generation.
It called for systematic preference for rail rather than air flights, for replacement of oil for heating, cooling and cooking by electricity from green sources, and for renewable sources to be expanded as fast as possible.
"In order to bring about these changes there need to be strong fiscal and regulatory measures to drive the process, major public and private investment programs, and strong political, business and civil society leadership to create the necessary dynamic and momentum for change," the committee said.
