The United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other major oil-producing states are planning a massive expansion that will blow the doors off our carbon budget "twice over," according to an article in The Guardian.
Realize that this is a very, very bad thing. Despite the fact no one is talking about actually burning all this carbon, just the plans to expand production will kill us all.
"The plans would lead to 460% more coal production, 83% more gas, and 29% more oil in 2030 than it was possible to burn if global temperature rise was to be kept to the internationally agreed 1.5C," says the news site. "Experts called the plans 'insanity' which 'throw humanity’s future into question.'"
“The addiction to fossil fuels still has its claws deep in many nations,” said Inger Andersen, the executive director of the UN environment programme. “These plans throw humanity’s future into question. Governments must stop saying one thing and doing another.”
So should UN "experts" who wouldn't know a drill bit from a cow fart.
The report profiles 20 fossil fuel-producing nations, which were the combined source of 84% of CO2 emissions in 2021. Of those, 17 had pledged to achieve net zero emissions, said Michael Lazarus at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), a lead author of the report.
This is what happens when you put the world's energy production in the hands of people who don't want any energy production.
A long series of scientific studies has concluded that any new oil and gas fields are incompatible with staying below the 1.5C global heating limit agreed in Paris, including a 2021 analysis by the International Energy Agency. The Guardian revealed in 2022 that the world’s biggest fossil fuel businesses were planning scores of “carbon bomb” oil and gas projects.
The new report analysed the expansion plans of the big fossil fuel producers based on publicly available data. It found the gap between planned production and the amount consistent with keeping to 1.5C of global heating was as large now as when the analysis was first done in 2019. The gap in 2030 is estimated at 20bn tonnes of CO2, about half of today’s annual global emissions.
No new oil and gas fields? What do we use in the meantime to power industries? Sorry, but solar and wind just aren't cutting it yet and won't be viable sources for industrial energy production for at least 30 years — best-case scenario.
This kind of stupidity is why even if climate change happens, we are well and truly screwed.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member