IEA urges working from home, cutting travel to ease strain from energy crisis

20th Mar 2026 07:13

(Sharecast News) - The International Energy Agency has laid out 10 "demand-side actions" to governments, businesses and households to curb oil consumption as crude prices trade at their highest levels in four years amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The IEA said that the measures, which include increasing working from home to reduce the fuel demand from commuting, while lowering motorway speed limits by at least 10km/hour, could help to mitigate the economic impact on consumers from current disruptions to diesel, jet fuel and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) markets.

"The conflict has triggered the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market, with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries around 20% of global oil consumption, reduced to a trickle," the agency said.

It added that supply-side measures - such as last week's decision by IEA members to release 400m barrels of emergency stockpiles to the market - won't fully offset the disruption, and addressing demand is a "critical and immediate tool" to reduce pressure on consumers from higher oil prices.

Other measures listed include increased ride-sharing, reduced air travel, and heavy industries switching from LPG to alternative feedstocks such as naphtham, could also help.

Meanwhile, governments could take certain actions, including regulatory measures and incentives, to encourage new behaviours.

"Today's report provides a menu of immediate and concrete measures that can be taken on the demand side by governments, businesses and households to shelter consumers from the impacts of this crisis," said IEA executive director Faith Birol.

"It draws on the IEA's decades of expertise in this field and highlights measures that have been proven to work in practice in different contexts."