Governments around the world have been slow to take uncomfortable decisions to persuade consumers to cut energy consumption to help achieve climate targets, often because consumers are not ready to pay up or compromise their lifestyles. Researchers, policy makers and energy executives told a Reuters Energy Transition conference this week that while energy companies were under pressure to accelerate measures to reduce emissions, governments have barely addressed reducing demand for the fossil fuels that warm the planet. A growing population in Asia and booming consumerism in industrialised nations make most climate targets very difficult, if not impossible to achieve. Just this month, Swiss voters rejected environmental proposals by governments to help the country cut carbon emissions, including measures to raise a surcharge on car fuel and impose a levy on flight tickets. read more The International Energy Agency, the steward of energy policies […]