Demand for oil could be flat from 2020 until 2030 and then fall steadily to 2050, the organisations found. Consumption of coal could peak in 2020 and could then fall to half of 2012 levels by mid-century.

In contrast, oil giant ExxonMobil says in its 2017 outlook that demand for oil would rise about 18 per cent between 2015 and 2040. BP estimates oil demand will continue to grow for the next 20 years, although at a reduced rate, and demand for coal will peak in the mid-2020s.

Shell surprised some observers in November when chief financial officer Simon Henry suggested oil demand could reach a turning point within five-15 years, while OPEC has said oil demand may stop growing within 15 years as the world implements more aggressive climate targets.

BHP Billiton last year revealed aggressive forecasts for the rise of mass-market electric vehicles but it still expects total oil demand to expand 1 per cent a year through to 2035.

The forecasts are less bullish for coal, where the risk of "stranded" assets has been highlighted by some investors welcoming Rio Tinto's recent $US2.45 billion deal to sell its Hunter Valley coal interests.

But Luke Sussams, senior researcher at the Carbon Tracker think tank, said the fossil fuel industry was still constantly underestimating the "game-changers" of electric vehicles and solar power.

"Further innovation could make our scenarios look conservative in five years' time, in which case the demand misread by companies will have been amplified even more," Mr Sussams said, pointing to emerging technologies such as printable PV solar cells.

The report's more-aggressive predictions on the decline in fossil fuel demand are based on strides being made on solar costs and the uptake of electric cars.

The cost of solar PV has dropped 85 per cent in the past seven years, driving the addition of more than 5000 gigawatts of capacity worldwide between 2030 and 2040.

Meanwhile the electric vehicle market is expanding 60 per cent year on year, with more than 1 million vehicles now on the roads. Battery costs have fallen 73 per cent to $US268 a kilowatt-hour in the seven years to 2015, according to the US Department of Energy, and Tesla is predicting they will reach $US100 a kilowatt-hour by 2020.

The study assumes that electric vehicles undercut conventional cars on costs from 2020 and capture 20 per cent of the road transport market by 2030, rising to 69 per cent by 2050.