What an agonizingly backwards + disastrous foreign policy proposal from the cool pol I met at the airport in the 90s: @JohnKerry & I bonded over snowarding + the need for urgent #ClimateAction. A QUARTER OF A CENTURY LATER, he’s peddling the “gas as transition” narrative 🧵
https://twitter.com/katearonoff/status/1500864033238495237
This is the same lie pushed by @exxonmobil @Chevron @bp_plc et al. to justify their continued existence during a #ClimateCrisis that demands immediate transition away from ALL fossil fuels. Building a vast and dirty fossil fuel system to power emerging economies is sheer madness.
Emerging economies in Africa + Asia are already the most sensitive to climate impacts. Is this another example of brutal colonialism whose aim is to subjugate and crush? Or simply base greed by the fossil majors who stand to gain billions? A new (but old) Corporate Colonialism?
In 2022, with renewables + storage as cheap or cheaper than fossil fuels, there is no reason to develop dirty. And with less than 8 years before our carbon budget for 1.5 runs dry @IPCC_CH, to do so would be a deadly deal for those the “gas as bridge” tribe would purport to help.
We have all we need to #DevelopClean and it’s our obligation help emerging markets pay for it. They did so very little to contribute to the climate mess. Let’s help them harness the sun, wind and water with cutting-edge technologies that will drive cost curves down even further.
But first we must tell the truth about gas: GAS IS NOT CLEANER THAN COAL. It emits less CO2 from the smokestack, yes. But it leaks a dangerous a heat-trapping gas at every stage of the production pipeline. This gas - methane - is 80x stronger at warming than CO2 over 20 years.
Oil and gas companies also routinely vent huge amounts of methane into the air. Satellites recently identified levels FAR beyond official estimates. "No one expects that pipelines are sometimes wide open, pouring gas into the atmosphere.” @tlaval_pa
I urge @ClimateEnvoy to read up on the latest science before parroting the fossil fuel industry’s “gas as bridge” propaganda. Gas is no bridge, just a gangplank to climate chaos. And we knew this a decade ago, thanks to pioneering work of @howarth_cornell Infraffea, et al. #NoGas
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