Opinion Today: Is Big Oil really working toward a clean energy future?
The New York Times
August 8, 2023 8:21 AM
By Chris Conway
Senior Staff Editor, Opinion
More than a year ago, António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, warned that the world would be “sleepwalking to climate catastrophe” if it continued to rely on fossil fuels. He called the addiction “madness.”
How, then, to explain the fact that earlier this year, two of the biggest oil companies in the world walked back their commitments to move away from oil and gas — and shareholders rewarded them for doing so?
In a guest essay for Times Opinion, Jason Bordoff explains the gap between the industry’s rhetoric and its actions. He is the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. In that position, he closely monitors what Big Oil and other fossil fuel producers are doing to move away from their greenhouse-gas-emitting products and toward more sustainable energy sources.
“Contrary to their rhetoric,” he writes, “the behavior of these companies suggests that they believe a low-carbon transition will not occur or they won’t be as profitable if it does.”
Bordoff argues that the world’s major energy producers are “not moving nearly fast enough to address the climate crisis.” He points to troubling indicators: The amount oil companies are spending to explore and extract oil and natural gas dwarfs what they are investing in clean energy; at the same time, these companies are using their jaw-dropping profits to raise dividends and buy back stock rather than further expand their green energy efforts.
That’s not encouraging, especially in light of the stark report released in the spring by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Describing the conclusions by the world’s leading climate scientists, Brad Plumer, a climate reporter at The Times, wrote that “Earth is likely to cross a critical threshold for global warming within the next decade, and nations will need to make an immediate and drastic shift away from fossil fuels to prevent the planet from overheating dangerously beyond that level.”
The brutal, unrelenting heat this summer only underscores that finding. Will the big energy companies, which have the technological wherewithal to push the energy transition forward, heed that warning? That, writes Bordoff, is the “stark choice” they face.
What our readers are saying
Exxon is correct. Most people refuse to cut their demand for oil and gas or “lower their standard of living” by, say, turning down the thermostat or taking public transportation instead of driving everywhere. We also lack clean energy infrastructure to transport and store clean power on a large scale. Even electric cars are fueled by fossil fuel burning power plants. Making the big switch to clean power will require sacrifices during the transition and nobody seems to be OK with anything like that. God forbid anyone even criticize using gas-burning stoves in homes — people freak out. — Kate, Chicago
Relying on oil companies to decarbonize the economy is like appointing bank robbers to oversee bank security. It’s not in their interest. We need massive federal engagement, backed up by trillions of dollars if we are to have any hope of arresting our rush to climate disaster. But what remains dreadfully hard for our politicians to admit is that it is our capitalist system itself that stands in the way. It’s delusional to think Shell and Exxon-Mobil and their competitors are going to slay the climate dragon for us. We need FDR-type government intervention. — Gary, New Mexico
It’s time to stop dancing around these huge oil and gas corporations, and it’s definitely time to stop subsidizing them. These are the same oil companies that brought us the world’s worst environmental disasters: the Exxon Valdez spill and the infamous Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. They are not caring, socially responsible companies, so we must make them so in order to protect our environment. — Mike L, South Carolina
Read the guest essay and join the conversation in the comments.
Article Image
Micha Huigen
GUEST ESSAY
Behind All the Talk, This Is What Big Oil Is Actually Doing
It seems increasingly evident that the oil industry is unable or unwilling to help chart a path toward a cleaner energy future.
By Jason Bordoff
Continue reading the main story
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