The oil and gas industry is under pressure from some—including those attending events like the Conference of Parties (COP) annual meetings—to voluntarily phase out the production of hydrocarbons, which are blamed for contributing to climate change and environmental degradation. This is a misguided and dangerous ploy that the industry should reject out of hand.
Put simply, the anti-oil and gas lobby wants the oil and gas industry to do their dirty work for them—that is, to take the blame and the responsibility for the consequences of eliminating these fuels while activists take the credit and praise for supposedly saving the planet.
It’s for the industry to bear the costs and risks of transitioning to renewable energy, while the real instigators reap the benefits and the rewards of appearing green and clean. Greens want the industry to be the scapegoat and the villain, and they the hero and the savior.
It’s a clever and cunning strategy, but also a dishonest and hypocritical one. Note how the political left and climate activists are quick to subsidize renewables, but strangely slow to actually ban fossil fuels—which they could do. The reason? They know they will be held to account by the public for the ensuing disaster of falling living standards and economic chaos.
Moreover, they also know that oil and gas are essential for powering the modern economy, providing reliable and affordable energy for transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, and many other sectors. Without hydrocarbons, the world would face severe energy shortages, blackouts, inflation, unemployment, and social unrest. They know these things.
Just to reiterate, for good measure…
Eliminating oil and gas by any means other than market forces would rival as one of the most consequential and regrettable unforced errors in history. It would make the tens of millions of deaths that resulted from Mao’s ill-fated Great Leap Forward look like a mild tragedy in comparison.
So greens attempt to push the industry to voluntarily stop producing oil and gas on their own. This way, the climate lobby can avoid the backlash and the blame from the public, shifting it to those in the oilfield. They’ll be able accuse the industry of being greedy and selfish, of hoarding and profiteering…. even as they point to it as the cause of climate change.
The whole thing is a cunning and clever trap, one that the oil and gas industry should avoid stepping into at all costs. The sector has nothing to gain from taking responsibility for what would surely lead to global chaos. It also has nothing to apologize for in providing the world with the energy it needs and wants—how it wants and needs it.
The oil and gas industry is, first and foremost, the ally of human progress. If some among us want to take the risk of whole nations turning away from hydrocarbons, it should be they… not the oil and gas industry… that force that change on the public and are held accountable for the results. Period.