The chairman and CEO of energy company Chevron warned the global energy crisis had been exacerbated by Western governments "doubling down" on green energy policies that will only cause "more volatility, more unpredictability, and more chaos."
“If people want to stop driving, stop flying... that’s a choice for society,” he said.
“I don’t think most people want to move backwards in terms of their quality of their life... our products enable that.”
CEO Mike Wirth told Financial Times in an interview this week that the premature transition from fossil fuels to green energy, a move to decarbonize the economy, has sparked "unintended consequences," such as energy supply issues that are already widespread in Europe and emerging in California.
Wirth continued that even though renewables, such as wind and solar, have been invested heavily by Western governments over the last two decades to decarbonize grids, fossil fuels still are a large percentage of power generation, adding politicians really need to hold an "honest conversation" about the energy crunch before things worsen.
"The conversation [about energy] in the developed world for sure has skewed towards climate, taking affordability and security for granted.
"The reality is, [fossil fuel] is what runs the world today. It's going to run the world tomorrow and five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now."
Wirth outlined years of underinvestment caused the global energy crunch and predated Russia's invasion. This has given way to limited spare capacity by oil-producing countries.
He said the investments in alternatives versus fossil fuel were "woefully short, trillions of dollars short," and has caused the mismatch "illustrates the risk in moving from a system that keeps the world functioning today aggressively to another system, and shutting down nuclear, shutting down coal, discouraging oil and gas."
Wirth's comments squarely blamed Western governments for the energy crunch and should also include Wall Street banks (cough cough BlackRock's Fink), big tech companies, corporate elites, and other progressive organizations, such as The World Economic Forum, that have worked together to push a green energy agenda.
This was a dilemma for an administration that had entered office with a “very clear agenda . . . to make it more difficult for our industry to deliver energy to our customers”.
What's become evident following the war in Ukraine and disruptions to global energy markets -- is that countries that quickly increased investments in green energy and decommissioned fossil fuel power plants suffer the most (Germany is a prime example). The people who pushed green energy now say the world needs more and take no responsibility for the decarbonization movement backfiring (which has led to energy hyperinflation).
Wirth's latest comments come as he warned US households to brace for soaring natural gas prices this winter. He has combated (read: here & here) the mindless folks at the White House who have blamed the oil and gas industry for the energy crunch.
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The unintended consequence of decarbonizing economies too fast is energy hyperinflation.
By Zerohedge.com
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So it is a breath of fresh air and a great candour to hear the chairman and CEO of American oil supermajor Chevron blaming the green policies of Western governments for precipitating the current energy crisis and causing more volatility, more unpredictability, and more chaos in the global energy markets.
Last month, US climate czar John Kerry discouraged investors from funding long- term gas projects in Africa, warning that they would be unable to recoup their investments beyond 2030. According to Kerry, it will be important to capture the emissions from gas after 2030, as the world is set to reach net-zero emissions in 2050.
The West puts so much importance on the climate change agenda in Africa which is the world’s smallest contributor to global emissions merely contributing 3.8% in 2020.
I would hazard two explanations for the West’s attitude. The first explanation is that the West is under the misguided and erroneous view that any future energy assets like investing in oil and gas will end up after 2030 as stranded assets. The second explanation is a more sinister one, with the West wishing to keep African energy resources underground in order to satisfy its own appetite for energy in the future. Meanwhile African people continue to suffer from severe energy poverty.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Global Energy Expert
The immediate answer to climate security is increased albedo, brightening the planet to reflect more sunlight back to space, known as geoengineering through solar radiation management (SRM). SRM can cut the key climate measure of Radiative Forcing by 2 watts per square metre, reversing warming, whereas best projections for emission reduction would see RF continue to increase.
Advocates of planetary brightening wish to engage with the oil and gas and coal industries to build political support and investment for major new SRM technologies such as marine cloud brightening that would immediately mitigate extreme weather. There is extensive scientific support for SRM, but traditional energy industries are not engaged in this debate.
A ‘grand bargain’ could see industry support for SRM in exchange for political support for ongoing investment in oil, gas and coal to deliver ongoing energy security. How about it?