{"id":13301,"date":"2017-04-10T12:43:19","date_gmt":"2017-04-10T12:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/?p=13301"},"modified":"2017-04-11T04:52:44","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T04:52:44","slug":"the-truth-the-fossil-fuel-industry-doesnt-want-you-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/divestment\/the-truth-the-fossil-fuel-industry-doesnt-want-you-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"The Truth the Fossil Fuel Industry Doesn\u2019t Want you to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

The future is not looking good for the fossil fuel industry. The rise of renewable energy and climate policy agreements have created a tipping point marking the end of the dominance of hydrocarbons. Despite the claims that our energy mix can\u2019t function without it, everyday there is news of the closing of coal mines, oil companies moving out of projects, and increased uptake of renewable energy. Dirty energy is no longer profitable for profit nor planet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Look at the evidence: <\/span>Shell repeatedly pointed to its forecasts<\/span><\/a> to justify nine years of costly offshore exploratory drilling in the Arctic. But in 2016, the oil giant was forced to scrap those plans, wasting USD 7 billion in shareholder capital. \u00a0Exxon and Conoco Phillips were recently forced to reduce 4.65 billion barrels of proved oil reserves, wiping USD 183 billion of high-cost tar sands assets from their books. What if this money had gone to renewable energy and energy efficiency development?<\/span><\/p>\n\"ffquite1\"<\/a>\n

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The only way that fossil fuel companies can survive is because they are still being subsidised<\/span> with billions of dollars<\/span><\/a> allowing them to irrationally go looking for more coal, oil and gas to burn. So t<\/span>he assertion that we can\u2019t survive without fossil fuels<\/span><\/a>, is extremely dangerous, as<\/span> it risks creating a fatalism among policymakers and investors and undermining confidence in alternatives. It also means that billions of dollars are wasted by propping up a dying industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reality is that oil companies are losing money. Exxon, Shell, Chevron and BP didn\u2019t make enough money in 2016 to cover their costs, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis, which basically means the<\/span> oil giants don\u2019t have the capacity to grow<\/span><\/a>. This, in essence, makes them a bad long-term investment.<\/span><\/p>\n\"ffquite2\"<\/a>\n

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The same goes for the coal industry which is also facing serious problems, including<\/span> Moody\u2019s downgrading of the industry<\/span><\/a>. Elsewhere, China\u2019s coal consumption has<\/span> fallen for the third year running<\/span><\/a>, and coal plant approvals have<\/span> fallen by 85 %<\/span><\/a>, as the government<\/span> announces it will cut<\/span><\/a> 50 million tons of steel capacity and 150 million tons of coal production this year, and put in place a plan for job transition away from the sector. In the UK, use of coal in power generation<\/span> fell by 52 %<\/span><\/a> in 2016, resulting in a near 6% \u00a0drop in carbon pollution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unbelievably despite this, many people are still under the misapprehension that we can\u2019t function as a society or that our economies can\u2019t run without dirty energy. That somehow the existing clean technologies are insufficient. This is a narrative perpetuated by the carbon-based energy companies that realise that they are now facing an existential crisis and deception is the only way for them to survive.<\/p>\n

This is why our governments, universities, religious organizations, cultural institutions, individuals, and more, must divest and cut ties with this rogue industry in order to curb the worst future impacts of climate change, this is the only sound and moral action.<\/span><\/p>\n