On the heels of a series of alarming climate change assessments from the United States and the United Nations in the past two weeks, reports from a range of bodies warn that the world's demand for greenhouse gas-generating fossil fuels won't peak – and then start to fall – nearly soon enough.

A range of experts have predicted that global energy consumption won't turn the corner until 2035 – five years after what one U.N. report last week said was the deadline for countries to steeply cut their heat-trapping carbon emissions.

However, at an industry conference this week in Houston, for example, Al Salazar, an analyst with the consulting firm RS Energy, reportedly said that doesn't necessarily mean that consumption will decline: "We don't think oil demand will peak, instead it will plateau."

Peak oil demand, he added, is "not really" close, in remarks first reported by The Houston Chronicle. "We have some gas left in the tank."

Salazar said that if electrical vehicle technology doesn't get cheaper, it won't diminish the need for oil. He said flattening demand from the automotive sector to date has been offset by an increase globally in the production of plastics, which requires oil. And with rising increases in income around the world, plastics will continue to bolster oil use.

The assessment – though perhaps welcomed by the oil and gas sector – comes as climate reports warned of similar lack of progress in reducing emissions: Research published Thursday by Stanford researchers, for example, found that global emissions in 2018 will reach their highest level on record – the second straight year that emissions have climbed, after three years in which they'd leveled off.

The U.S. National Climate Assessment published last week, meanwhile, described how the impacts of climate change are already being felt, from wildfires to droughts and severe weather.