Don’t Blame Oil, Developed Nations Are Responsible for Climate Change, Says OPEC
The OPEC Secretary General has said that oil is not responsible for climate change and that the developed nations should be held responsible for the global predicament we all face today.
Oil is not responsible. It is the industrialised countries which are making all this pollution in the world.
These were the words of Abdullah al-Badri at the International Oil Summit held at Paris. He went on to criticize ‘some’ developed nations levying excessive taxes on oil companies and petroleum products while extending tax breaks to renewable energy firms. He also spoke against the subsidies that the renewable energy projects recieve in the developed countries.
It is highly unfortunate to see OPEC’s single-minded and illogical stance regarding climate change and renewable energy.
The developed nations have started to move their power generation systems from being fossil fuel based to renewable energy centred systems. However, hybrids and electric cars are still expensive and with the car industry going through catastrophic period of sales, it is unlikely that they would be able to mass-produce an affordable low emission vehicle. Thus gasoline burning cars and trucks remain a major source of world’s carbon emissions.
The oil companies which the OPEC is supporting are the same which exited the lucrative renewable energy markets of Europe to ‘set up profitable projects’ across the Atlantic. Under the Bush administration when the prospects of renewable energy in the US were not as bright as they are now, companies like Shell and British Petroleum, quit renewable energy projects in the UK and Asia to look for markets which provided ‘better profitibility’.
On one hand, the OPEC opposes the subsidies being given to renewable energy projects and on other hand wants the developed nations to adapt to climate change, without reducing their oil consumption. Clearly OPEC is scared of the world turning its back on it and fears a gradual global decline in oil demand. OPEC also seems to be concerned by the billions of dollars of green energy project investments pledged by world leaders. It is running out of reasons to convince the world to continue using oil at the same rate as it used to some decades ago. World’s oil addiction is in the interest of oil exporting nations but it could spell doom for the rest of the world.
Europe has already made clear that it would aggressively pursue large scale renewable energy production. It also plans to rid itself from the dependence on Russian gas supplies. European plans to build a massive solar power project in the African desert which could potentially generate power enough for every home in Europe. And now with President Obama promising to free America from imported oil, OPEC feels that a major part of its partnership with two key customers has a bleak future thus prompting it to make such false statements.
The tables seem to have turned now. Last year when the international crude oil prices blasted all previous records the OPEC members celebrated the billions of dollars of annual revenues they amassed as a result of the world’s oil addiction. Now that the world is suffering from an economic recession, car companies are going bankrupt and airline companies are cancelling fights, the OPEC is panicking with fear that all the major economies would invest billions of dollars in developing new energy systems based on renewable sources while neglecting oil.
The world leaders must understand that renewable energy, and not oil, is the future. This economic crisis has given us a rare opportunity to kill two birds in one strike – fire up the economy and get rid of the fossil fuels. By investing in renewable energy projects we would not only be ensuring energy security but also creating millions of jobs. The leaders of the developed world and those of the developing countries like India and China, must avoid giving such false and illogical statements much importance and must continue to invest heavily in renewable energy projects.
Image: bflickr (Creative Commons)
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About the Author
Mridul Chadha currently works as Head-News & Data at Climate Connect Limited, a market research and analytics firm in the renewable energy and carbon markets domain. He earned his Master’s in Technology degree from The Energy & Resources Institute in Renewable Energy Engineering and Management. He also has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering. Mridul has a keen interest in renewable energy sector in India and emerging carbon markets like China and Australia.
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