Australia urged to reduce oil dependence

An American energy expert is pushing for Australia to sign up to an international protocol to reduce its dependence on petroleum.

The Oil Depletion Protocol calls for nations to reduce their petroleum production and importation by 2.6 per cent each year - and gradually wean themselves off oil altogether.

Richard Heinberg, from the US-based Post-Carbon Institute, says countries such as Iceland and Ireland are making strong progress and Sweden has pledged to eliminate its oil dependency by 2020.

"It seems like an extraordinary step to voluntarily give up this resource that's given us such economic benefits over the last 150 years, but I'm afraid that unless we do, the withdrawal symptoms are going to be nearly fatal," he said.

Mr Heinberg says if the world does not drastically reduce its petroleum consumption immediately, there will be dire social and economic consequences as the supply of oil diminishes.

He says the international protocol requires nations to gradually reduce their petroleum use by switching to renewable fuels - and finding less energy intensive ways of living.

"The best thing we can do is wean ourselves from it and the Oil Depletion Protocol provides a way of doing that," he said.

"Reduction of about 2.6 per cent a year and if the nations of the world signed on, the result would be a stabilisation of oil prices and, second, a reduction in competition and potential conflict over the world's remaining oil resources."

- RADIO AUSTRALIA