The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, July 11, edition that the world is transitioning too slowly from fossil fuels to avoid severe climate change, increasing the risk of a disorderly transition to clean energy, BP PLC warned. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that fossil fuel consumption broke records last year, led by climbing oil demand, the company said in its annual Energy Outlook on Wednesday. Countries remain in an "energy addition" phase -- increasing their consumption of both low-carbon energy and fossil fuels -- and need to pivot to a "substitution" phase, it said. If this trend continues to the early 2040s, the world may have exhausted the so-called "carbon budget" that would limit temperature increases to 2C above preindustrial levels, BP cautioned. "The longer it takes for the world to move to a rapid and sustained energy transition, the greater the risk of a costly and disorderly adjustment," said Spencer Dale, BP's chief economist. This pathway could have outsized economic and social costs, according to the report. Investment in low-carbon energy has soared 50 per cent since 2019 to reach about $1.9-trillion (U.S.) last year.