An industry reveals itself in the news this week
It was the news this week that caught my eye. With the gear up for General Conference, and the resolution seeking divestment, my attention turns to headlines like these, and the studies and activities they report.
The big question for General Conference will be, Divestment or Engagement with Oil and Gas Companies. With hundreds of faith-based organizations divesting of oil and gas, and plenty of good reasons to divest, that is where I land. But it is good always to check our echo chambers, and the news this week got my attention.
Is engagement working?
Yes and no.
Yes, for some companies, the public and political pressure, brought by global youth, global grandparents and fresh heat waves, means change is happening. Investment boards are eager to see corporations respond to the climate emergency with new tools and products. As such, my next question is, what about oil and gas companies? They made promises, too. Are they keeping them? Unfortunately, from the news this last couple of weeks, the answer to that looks to be a resounding ‘no.’
New analysis this week from Carbon Tracker tells us: Oil and gas companies are way off-track from Paris Agreement goals, finds new combined alignment scorecard. A scorecard of metrics was used for the report, evaluating “the 25 largest listed oil and gas companies and evaluates the extent to which they are aligned with Paris-climate goals.”
“Companies worldwide are publicly stating they are supportive of the goals of the Paris-Agreement, and claim to be part of the solution in accelerating the energy transition. Unfortunately, however, we see that none are currently aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement…”
Maeve O’Connor, Oil and Gas Analyst and report author. (Read the report)
Carbon Tracker’s reports are newsworthy, and news outlets added context for understanding the report, such as this article from The Guardian: World’s largest oil companies ‘way off track’ on emissions goals, report finds. Despite splashy climate pledges, firms including BP and Saudi Aramco have plans to expand fossil fuel production, says analysis
These climate pledges to achieve climate goals—these promises—are what is at issue.
And it’s worse that Carbon Tracker’s report suggests, because this same week news broke that for some companies, they are taking a big step back from what they promised. At the recent Cera Week Conference, The Guardian reported that, even as fossil fuel companies draw record profits, they have announced plans to ramp up production. Read from The Guardian, World’s top fossil-fuel bosses deride efforts to move away from oil and gas. Executives at Texas summit claim clean-energy transition is failing and say world should ‘abandon the fantasy’ of fossil-fuel phaseout.
All this claim that fossil fuels need more investment this week follow the IEA report last month of record clean energy build outs and a path ahead to reduce and phase out fossil fuels.
Industry insider publications also reporting on the Cera Conference again echoed the oil executives who are reneging on promises for transition. From Oil Price, Big Oil Grows Bolder in Transition Pushback. Oil Price quotes Amin Nasser of Aramco who called the fossil fuel phase out a “fantasy” and called for more investment in oil and gas.
Reading Oil Price can be helpful in better understanding the oil company point of view. Their product is oil. They want to extract it, pump it, sell it, and profit from it. Where others might see promise in Africa “leapfrogging” fossil fuels for cleaner energy solutions, oil companies see an opportunity to build decades worth of methane infrastructure.
No one disputes the need to build energy systems in Africa. But how it is done matters. And this is where capital comes in.
John Kerry, who until recently served as America’s ‘Climate Czar,’ believes the clean energy transition is already here. What is needed is capital. And investing that capital in oil and gas is exactly the wrong direction. Read from Upstream, ‘Visibly failing’ or ‘remarkable progress’? John Kerry and Amin Nasser differ on energy’s path forward. Kerry says: ‘We haven’t failed’ in path toward clean energy – the key is finding the capital.
For a livable planet, as The Guardian reported following the release of the latest IPCC report, “It’s over for Fossil Fuels.” At stake, according to the UN, is “a livable planet.”
And yet, fossil fuel companies are continuing to explore, expand, and drill for oil and gas. I covered the extent of the planned buildouts in my earlier article, Oil and Gas – Where are we now? These companies aren’t hiding their plans, but actively pursuing continued energy dominance. This article from three days ago is yet another example, from Oil Price, Exxon Slightly Ahead of Schedule to Double Its LNG Portfolio by 2030
All this, with everything at stake.
Fossil fuels are a bad energy source because the harm they cause to life on earth: plant life, animal life, and human life. From a faith perspective, the damage being wrought to what God has made should be terrifying.
Let this be written for a future generation,
Psalm 102:18-20
that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
“The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high,
from heaven he viewed the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners
and release those condemned to death.”
Our actions today determine the fate of future generations.
It is not an exaggeration to say that millions of lives are at stake. Millions from heat, from hunger, from dislocation, from disease…all risk factors from the continued burning of fossil fuels. A new study from Global Witness says 11.5 million human deaths just from heat. Read from The Guardian, Emissions connected to top oil and gas firms may cause millions of heat deaths by 2100, study finds. Global witness analysis suggests 11.5 million deaths could be caused by burning of fuel produced by 2050
It is amoral and unconscionable for people of faith to invest in fossil fuels, for they are a path that leads to death. Jesus said the road to destruction is broad, while the road to life is narrow. In the case of divestment from fossil fuels, there is no such narrowness. The road to life is wide open and shines like the sun. All we have to do is take it.
For otherwise, there is only more trouble ahead. Divesting from fossil fuels steps us surely on the better path. Not only does it stop the United Methodist Church from profiting from the deaths of millions, but gets us well out of the mess to come and into where the church belongs, in building up communities and the Kingdom of God.
Our churches are places not for a single generation, or a last generation. Our churches, synagogues, mosques and temples are places where many generations gather, generation on generation on generation. Our children need a path of hope as they deal with the necessary resilience-work ahead of us.
In Australia, children had questions. When they ask us as they asked researchers, ‘How long before climate change will destroy the Earth?’ what will our answer be? I would like to tell them they have long lives ahead of them, because they do. But people, we must divest.
Hear my prayer, O Lord.
This article is reprinted from JustCreation.org.
Rev. Richenda Fairhurst is an Elder in the Greater Northwest Area, living in Southern Oregon. She volunteers with the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement and a number of other organizations at the intersection of faith and climate change. Find her at justcreation.org
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