Climate Action Heroes Make the Difference
By: Chandu Visweswariah
Introduction
For anyone who cares about our planet’s climate stability, things are not going well. CO2 in the atmosphere continues to rise, the clean energy revolution is facing significant headwinds, extreme weather events are becoming more common and violent, and we are edging ever closer to the precipice of dreaded tipping points. It is easy to blame systemic causes (fossil fuel companies, utilities, government and elected leaders). Unfortunately, blame doesn’t solve any problem, only action can. We desperately need Climate Action Heroes who can take action despite the dire circumstances.
In this blog we will try to present a balanced view of the systemic culprits and then explain how our Climate Action Heroes can move us closer to a solution by taking relevant action.
Fossil Fuel Companies
Fossil fuels are responsible for a majority of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As shown in the lead graphic of this blog, more than half of carbon emissions can be traced back to 36 oil and gas companies. Natural gas (which is mostly methane) is particularly dangerous because a portion of the gas leaks into the atmosphere unburned, doing 81 times as much climate damage as CO2 pound-for-pound. A recent report found 4.5 million abandoned oil and gas wells worldwide, about 10% of which are “super methane emitters!” Sigh!
Although it is easy to blame fossil fuel companies, we must acknowledge some facts first.
- Fossil fuel industry scientists knew the harms of fossil fuels perhaps a half or even full decade before it was widely known in public. Jim Hansen testified before Congress in June of 1988, while there is evidence the industry understood global warming in the late 70s or early 80s. Even if we take for granted that the industry hid the harms of their product and obfuscated and prevaricated, we have consistently purchased and burned an increasing quantity of that product for the last 37 years even after Jim Hansen’s public testimony.
- Over the last 200 years, there is no question that the average quality of human life has improved dramatically, and such an achievement is due at least in part to the abundance of energy available from fossil fuels. Without coal, oil and gas, we would not be able to keep the lights on, keep the heat on, or get from here to there, almost anywhere in the world.
- Just as you can’t blame gun companies for homicides or weapons manufacturers for the ravages of war or cigarette companies for cancer, you can’t blame fossil fuel companies for global warming – they are merely legally supplying a well-understood legitimate product that someone else is demanding and burning, thus causing climate damage.
- The fossil fuel industry is able to mine, refine, transport and supply a staggering amount of fuel that meets exacting standards to every corner of the globe. They have brought fundamental innovations to bear in chemical engineering, geology, marine engineering and civil engineering in order to support such a massive industry.
- The scientists I have interacted with from the fossil fuel industry are good people trying to make what they feel is an essential product for humanity better, higher quality or less expensive.
- Like all companies, their goal is to make money for their shareholders.
Now let’s look at the other side. Without a doubt, fossil fuel companies are guilty of obfuscating the issues, hiding facts from the public, playing the disinformation + misinformation game and inserting fear, uncertainty and doubt into debates about clean energy solutions.
The image above comes from an internal 1982 publication of Exxon Research. The pair of lines on the left show CO2 in the atmosphere projected to exceed a shocking 500 parts per million by the middle of the 21st century, and a concomitant 2oC global temperature increase. In other words, Exxon knew quite precisely and quantitatively the dangers of global warming as early as 1982 and kept selling planet-poisoning petrochemicals!
As a result, the industry is facing lawsuits all over the world and being forced to fund climate superfunds. The Union of Concerned Scientists recently came out with a damning report entitled Decades of Deceit: The Case Against Major Fossil Fuel Companies for Climate Fraud and Damages. To quote from the report, “The evidence could hardly be clearer: For decades these companies possessed detailed and accurate knowledge about the dangers their products pose to the global climate and understood that climate action would threaten their business models. Yet they planned, funded, and continue to engage in a campaign to profit from the planet’s destruction by deceiving the public and blocking climate action.” Fossil fuel companies should be fully held accountable for this deceit, and deserve whatever fines and penalties are coming their way.
The bottom line is that fossil fuel companies are legally selling a legitimate product whose harms have been well-understood for decades – we don’t control any of this. So, how can a Climate Action Hero take action? The simple answer is to not buy planet-polluting petrochemicals. Wean yourself off of fossil fuels. No customers, no sales. No sales, no profit. No profit, no products. No products, no more companies.
Utilities
Utilities are often singled out to be climate punching bags. Their main job is to maintain the wires and poles to keep the lights on. The actual juice is usually supplied by third parties.
Any attempt to place a sizeable climate blame on utilities, however, fails the sniff test.
- Electricity contributes only 26% to global GHG emissions – thus limiting blame to the tune of 26%!
- New electricity generation capacity is 90% clean, so it is only a matter of time before the electric sector gets significantly cleaner. In New York, for example, electricity will be 70% clean by the end of the decade by law.
- If electricity is used for heating or transportation, it inherently reduces emissions due to the 3x or 4x efficiency factor of electric heating and electric mobility. Were it not for the utilities, our attempts to solve climate change by electrifying all loads would be nowhere.
- The utility’s main job is to keep the lights on, which they do remarkably well, with heroic efforts at times. For the most part, their CAIDI (Customer Average Interruption Duration Index) and SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index) metrics are stellar.
- Utilities are regulated monopolies which have to do what the regulators ask of them, even if the asks are regressive or perverse.
This is not to say that there aren’t legitimate gripes with utilities. Yes, with rare exceptions, they have been slow to adopt renewable energy and have clung on to coal plants and gas pipelines for far too long. Yes, with rare exceptions, they have pushed back against concepts like net metering, implementing them only when their backs were to the wall. Yes, they have perverse incentives like increasing their capital spend (by building more pipelines, for example) in order to justify a higher revenue “rate case” to regulators, while trying to minimize their expense spend. Yes, there are unintended consequences of volumetric billing, by which the grid upkeep is paid for on a per kilowatt-hour basis.
What is our Climate Action Hero to do? This is an easy one. Very simply: electrify all energy needs and obtain the necessary electricity from a 100% clean source. The latter is an easy step either via Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), or a clean Energy Services Company (ESCO), or community solar, or rooftop/backyard solar.
Political Leaders and the Government
Good governments protect their citizens as a first-order duty – ensuring clean air, clean water, and a stable climate. Any rational thinker would think this statement is basic – that climate is not political and doesn’t depend on which party is in power. Unfortunately, such a rational thinker would be in error, at least in the U. S.
Good government secondarily ensures that the economy thrives, and its citizens have good jobs and therefore a good quality of life. It turns out that fighting climate change, adopting inexpensive and abundant renewable energy, and ensuring a thriving economy are perfectly aligned with each other. In an ideal world, all of these would be bipartisan goals that are pursued with the full vigor of the nation.
Unfortunately, the Trump administration and the Republican Party are not just climate-agnostic or climate-neutral, which by itself would be a massive failure in these dire circumstances. Instead, the administration’s policies can only be summarized as climate-hostile. Consider:
- The fossil fuel industry donated more than $75M to the Trump campaign.
- The administrator of the EPA, Lee Zeldin is reversing the agency’s 2009 finding that GHG emissions endanger human health and welfare, rejecting all scientific evidence to the contrary.
- The budget bill presently before Congress cuts funding for clean energy and cleantech in general, and tries to repeal or undo as much of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as possible. Unfortunately, it is well-understood that clean energy employs more Americans than oil and gas, and that the IRA drives job creation, innovation and long-term tax revenue (330K jobs in solar alone, 2M jobs in total).
- Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said, “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either,” and “Ten times more people die of the cold every year than die of the warm. So, a little bit warmer planet means a little less risk for human beings.”
- And on and on. Listing all of which would make this blog much too long.
Even for those who are unconcerned about the damage to our planet, the damage to our future economy is profound. We are ceding ground to China (see this blog and this newsletter article), summarized by the two graphics below.
Despite current leadership at the federal level endangering the planet’s present health and our country’s future economy, it is too easy, too convenient and not quite accurate to blame them for our long-running climate crisis. Fundamentally, President Trump campaigned on a “Drill, Baby, Drill” slogan and none of his anti-climate actions has been a surprise. Despite that, the people of our nation voted for him to be our legitimately elected leader, so at least from a climate perspective, the people are getting what they voted for.
So, what is our Climate Action Hero to do? More on this in just a moment.
The Markets
The free markets are a true climate friend. Once new technologies like solar, wind, batteries, electric vehicles and heat pumps mature to the point of being superior to the status quo, free markets can provide the necessary tailwinds for rapid adoption. All we ask for is a level playing field, i.e., we don’t really want any subsidies for clean energy and electric vehicles, provided the world’s countries stop providing the massive $7 trillion subsidy that the fossil fuel industry benefits from currently.
You
The situation with fossil fuel companies, utilities and elected leaders is what it is. Most of us do not have the power to change them. But rather than play the blame game, rather than stick our heads in the sand, we can be Climate Action Heroes and truly move the needle.
With all these forces arrayed against us, what does it take to be a Climate Action Hero? Here’s a suggested checklist.
- Do not use any fossil fuels. Your electricity, heating and transportation can be free of fossil fuels with a bit of effort and investment. Airplane travel should be restricted to absolutely necessary trips and should be accompanied by a carbon-offset. Contact us if you need help weaning yourself off of fossil fuels. If we can get millions of people to stop buying planet-polluting petrochemicals, the fossil fuel companies will automatically make and sell less of those products. By the way, driving a hybrid car doesn’t count – it still perpetuates our dependence on fossil fuels.
- Now here’s the hard one. Use your vote. Bring climate issues to #1 in your priority list in all future elections – from School Boards to Presidential contests, from primaries to general elections. Demand from your School Board candidates that they promise never to buy fossil fuel buses again. Demand from your Village Mayoral candidates that they will never buy a diesel garbage truck or fire truck again. And so on. In the most recent general election, various issues motivated voters including immigration, inflation, economy, jobs, law and order, transgender rights, gay rights, abortion and “wokeness.” Unfortunately, climate change was not in the top 10 list of voters’ issues. Until it becomes numero uno in the pecking order, we will get yo-yo’ed by whatever policies the party in power chooses to implement, without a consistent and long-term fight for climate stability. Promote climate to #1!
- Vote with your money by divesting your IRAs, mutual funds and other investments from fossil fuel companies and banks. S. banks are largely bankrolling fossil fuel expansion, with the worst offenders being JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.
- Can you be a role model? Can you evangelize low-carbon living? Can you inspire others to be Climate Action Heroes who in turn will inspire others? Can you speak up effectively in all forums? Your task: influence and help at least two families (relatives, friends, neighbors or colleagues) to get free of fossil fuels. Convince at least two families to make climate the #1 issue in how they use their vote. Guide at least two families to divest from fossil fuels.
We desperately need Climate Action Heroes – can you be one of them? CURE100 can help you every step of the way. Meet us, join us.
