1 of 10/ We badly need a new a narrative around climate and energy, if the goal is to have reliable, affordable energy the world needs with less CO2. The current “Oil is Evil and the New Tobacco” playbook, IMO, is driving a worst of all worlds outcome: Higher prices, Same CO2.
2/ Believing that we will have less CO2 if we could simply force oil companies to address “Scope 3” emissions is a fairy tale. You probably can succeed in killing the western oil industry as has happened with US coal. But the CAPEX, jobs, and CO2 will only shift to other regions.
3/ Does anyone know what year global Coal production peaked before its rapid decline following the demise of the Appalachia coal industry? This is of course a trick question, as it hasn’t happened yet. The jobs and CAPEX simply shifted to China and India.
4/ But now some political leaders in Canada and the US want to repeat that mistake with crude oil and natural gas? At least in Coal, there are many viable power gen alternatives that are cleaner and similarly (or less) expensive than coal. That is not true with transport fuels.
5/ Why would the US and Canada not want to maximize local oil supply while taking steps to reduce oil-based transport demand. Banning SUVs + reforming CAFE will do far more than any policy directed at local oil supply or even what look like poorly designed EV tax credits.
6/ What should we hold oil companies accountable for? Scope 1 and 2 emissions and in particular methane, the latter of which has become a highly solvable problem and is perhaps the most tangible step industry can take today to limiting future warming.
7/ Oil companies don’t have “customers”, certainly not in any commonly used sense of the word. Energy is not something we “choose”. It is life: Air, Water, Energy. Policies that emphasize limiting energy supply are doomed to fail. They are fundamentally insane.
8/ The ideologically narrow narratives being espoused about the challenge of addressing climate while ensuring reliable and affordable energy does not help. If you leave it to one side of the aisle (in the US), you will only get solutions from that vantage point. #Sad
9/ The lack of diverse voices with actual solutions is unfortunate. For everyone that dunks on bad progressive policies, there is an urgent need to provide solutions about what you are actually for…and beyond “markets”, which on their own don’t solve CO2.
10/ None of this should be construed as defending fossil fuels. Rather I am defending every person’s right to reliable and affordable energy, which, at this time, overwhelmingly comes from fossil fuels. Air, water, energy.
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