In focus: Is climate crisis a ‘fossil fuels crisis’?

With only two months left until the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, all eyes are turned to global leaders to take concrete steps to keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C within reach. While the fossil fuels industry faces growing dissatisfaction from environmental activists, leaders from both public and private sectors are urged to present realistic and obtainable commitments to just energy transition that leaves no one behind.

Highlighting this need for just energy transition, Amin H. Nasser, CEO of the Saudi oil and gas giant Aramco, warned that the difference between regions in the implementation of the net-zero measures is growing, which could lead to a potential North-South transition divide and a potential energy crisis as a result of a premature phaseout of fossil fuels.

Nasser outlined: “While much of the Global North is focusing on environmental sustainability, the priority for many in the Global South is economic survival. Transition planning has not sufficiently recognized this clear need for distinctive solutions, and a widening divide is an inevitable result.”

In the U.S., most of the Democratic Party is pushing for green energy and almost declaring war on fossil fuels while the Republican Party seeks to bring forth more oil and gas.

The latest energy policies advocated by Florida Governor and Republican presidential contender, Ron DeSantis, which essentially represent a doubling down on fossil fuel production, could throw the American energy transition on a bumpy road.

On the other hand, the current governor of California, Gavin Newsom, called out the oil and gas industry for their role in causing the current climate crisis and expressed its support behind a lawsuit that was filled in San Francisco County Superior Court against ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, and the American Petroleum Institute (API) for their alleged role in minimizing and giving little weight to the potential threats the development and extraction of fossil fuels pose for climate and the environment.

During his remarks at the UN Climate Ambition Summit, Governor Newsom, highlighted: “This climate crisis is a fossil fuel crisis. This climate crisis persists. It’s not complicated. It’s not complicated. It’s the burning of oil. It’s the burning of gas. It’s the burning of coal. And we need to call that out. For decades and decades, the oil industry has been playing each and every one of us in this room for fools. They’ve been buying off politicians. They’ve been denying and delaying science and fundamental information that they were privy to that they didn’t share or they manipulated. Their deceit and denial, going back decades, has created the conditions that persist here today.”

In the meantime, the U.S. is not slowing down incentives and activities to boost the renewable energy sector.

California is actively pursuing marine energy, as demonstrated by the passing of a wave and tidal energy bill, which directs the California Energy Commission to evaluate the feasibility, costs, and benefits of using such energy across the state’s 840-mile coastline.

Moreover, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $47.7 million in funding for 16 research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects across 13 U.S. states to advance clean hydrogen technologies.

This week was also eventful for Europe, more specifically France, where environmental activists took steps to express their dissatisfaction with the arrival of a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU), chartered by TotalEnergies.

Greenpeace France activists protested against the arrival of the 280-meter-long LNG unit which resulted in eleven people being placed in police custody for acts of intrusion into a port facility outside a restricted access zone and maritime offenses linked to acts of navigation and collision, among others.

When it comes to renewable energy-related developments in France, it is worth noting that EDF Renewables is currently looking to form an innovation partnership that will design and deliver an offshore hydrogen production and transport ecosystem.

Phasing out fossil fuels and stepping up green fuels is one of the top priorities of the shipping industry as well which was demonstrated by the recent decision from Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller Maersk and French major CMA CGM to join forces on several areas relating to decarbonization, including the development of greener fuels for ships.