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Climate change
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Climate crisis puts oil in the crosshairs, but dependence persists

  • There should be no new investment in fossil fuel projects if the world is to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, IEA says
  • But amid talk of the end of hydrocarbons, oil demand is still expected to rise with rebounding crude prices giving producers the cash to pursue new projects

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Gasoline tanker trucks drive down a road near the Marathon Petroleum Corp in El Paso Texas. The refinery has a crude oil refinery capacity of approximately 131,000 barrels per calendar day. Photo: AFP
Agence France-Presse

The climate crisis has put the end of oil onto the agenda, but achieving that is a colossal task given the world economy’s deep dependence on petroleum.

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“In 2021, several developments showed clearly that [the petroleum] industry doesn’t have a future,” said Romain Ioualalen at the activist group Oil Change International.

The International Energy Agency warned in May that an immediate halt to new investment in fossil projects is needed if the world is to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to stand any chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Another major moment in 2021 was the emergence at the COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow of a coalition of nations that pledged to phase out oil and gas production, although no major oil and gas producing nation joined that group.

“It is no longer taboo to talk about the end of the extraction of hydrocarbons during international climate summits,” said Oil Change International’s Ioualalen.

And fossil fuels – which still represent 80 per cent of energy consumed – were explicitly blamed for driving climate change, which was not the case when the Paris climate pact was reached in 2015.
Afghan farmers suffering from consequences of the severe drought line up to receive food rations. Climate change is making events such as drought more severe and frequent. Photo: AP
Afghan farmers suffering from consequences of the severe drought line up to receive food rations. Climate change is making events such as drought more severe and frequent. Photo: AP

More recently, environmental defenders scored a symbolic victory when oil giant Shell decided to exit the development of the controversial Cambo oilfield off Scotland saying the investment case was “not strong enough”.

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