Paris climate deal highlights long-term risk for oil and gas

COP21 served as a reminder that the energy paradigm is changing, and fossil fuel producers would be wise to stay ahead of the curve

December's United Nations climate summit surprised even the most ardent environmentalists by producing an accord that binds all nations in an effort to keep global temperature increases to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The unexpectedly ambitious goal - nations had been expected to agree an upper limit of two degrees - highlights the long-term vulnerability of fossil fuels in the world's energy supply, and drives a wedge between oil and gas industries, which believe they can fulfil a role well into the second half of the century, and the coal sector, whose medium-term future as a large-scale energy source has already been called into question. Oil and natural gas