The Unsustainable Status Quo
Alarm bells are ringing in government circles. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, put it, “Heat is no longer a silent killer. From coast-to-coast, communities are battling to keep people cool, safe and alive due to the growing impacts of the climate crisis.” According to his agency, there were an estimated 2,302 heat-related deaths in 2023, triple the annual average between 2004 and 2018.
Yet, despite these staggering statistics, the U.S. government continues to green light the exploration, production, and use of fossil fuels. In fact, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), considered the most important environmental legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress, includes a number of significant climate and clean energy provisions but tellingly none that require phasing out fossil fuel exploration and use.
The U.S. is the largest producer of oil and gas in the world. It is also the world’s largest gas exporter, with exports doubling over the last four years. To win passage of the IRA, President Biden even agreed to guarantee the completion of the 300-mile natural gas Mountain Valley Pipeline, a project that local communities had opposed for years.
How does the U.S. government reconcile its domestic policies with its COP 28 position, where it voiced support for an international agreement to phase out fossil fuels? The answer lies in the government’s promotion of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and direct air capture (DAC) technologies as the solution.
The False Promise of Carbon Capture
The government appears willing to support the eventual phasing out of “unabated fossil fuels” – that is, the burning of fossil fuels where resulting carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions are released directly into the atmosphere. The development of CCS and DAC technologies would allow the continued use of fossil fuels and the maintenance of the existing economic system, thus avoiding any clash with the business community.
However, the reality is that CCS and DAC technologies are far from the silver bullet they are touted to be. CCS was first developed and used in the 1970s to boost oil production through a process known as enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Approximately 80% of the carbon dioxide captured globally is still used for EOR, with little to no effort made to keep the captured carbon pumped into the ground from escaping back into the atmosphere.
At present, there are only 42 operational commercial projects using CCS in the world, with a total storage capacity amounting to only 0.13% of the world’s annual carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, only 12 of these projects are designed to permanently store carbon dioxide without first using it for EOR. There are also financial and environmental concerns about developing permanent storage sites and safely moving the captured carbon dioxide there.
Direct air capture remains a far more experimental and expensive process, with only 27 DAC plants commissioned worldwide. The largest planned facility in the U.S. is being developed by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Occidental Petroleum, not to fight global warming, but to use the captured carbon for enhanced oil recovery.
As the International Energy Agency warns, we should avoid “excessive expectations and reliance” on these technologies as a solution to the climate crisis. The years spent attempting to develop an effective CCS and DAC technology will be years of unchecked fossil fuel use, further exacerbating the problem.
The Capitalist Resistance to Change
Why is the business community, especially the fossil fuel industry, so resistant to meaningful action to reduce emissions and combat global warming? It’s not that they don’t believe in the science – investigations have revealed that leading fossil fuel companies have long been aware of the problem of global warming and concerned about their role in driving it.
The more likely explanation is that business leaders simply don’t see the climate crisis as a serious threat to their own personal lives or business pursuits. After all, it is the people in the global South, especially in Africa and Asia, who are suffering the most from the worsening climate crisis. Flooding, droughts, and extreme heat waves are devastating communities, leading to food scarcity, health issues, and mass displacement.
Meanwhile, for many Americans, the impacts of climate change, while concerning, have not yet become an immediate, personal crisis. And as long as that remains the case, business leaders have little incentive to jeopardize their profits and the existing economic system.
Moreover, these leaders have every reason to believe that if and when the costs of global warming become a significant political problem, the government will open the public purse even wider to compensate them for any changes that might prove necessary in their business practices. In the meantime, “steady as you go” ensures big profits.
A Radical Transformation is Needed
It’s clear that we cannot rely on market forces or the goodwill of the business community to drive the necessary changes to combat the climate crisis. What we need is a radical transformation of our economy, one that prioritizes sustainability, equity, and the well-being of all people over the narrow pursuit of profits.
This will require a coordinated, system-wide effort led by the government, drawing on the lessons of the World War II conversion experience. Just as the government then rapidly transformed the economy from civilian to military production, we must now undertake a similar conversion to a sustainable, clean energy-based economy.
This will involve:
– Dramatically reducing the exploration, production, and use of fossil fuels in favor of renewable energy sources like solar and wind.
– Downsizing or repurposing industries and goods that are ecologically destructive or socially unnecessary, such as single-family mansions, giant SUVs, and fast fashion.
– Expanding socially beneficial goods and services, such as public transportation, affordable housing, and regenerative agriculture.
– Developing new agencies and mechanisms to manage the investment, ownership, and location of these new facilities and industries.
– Ensuring a just transition for workers, providing training and support as the economy is transformed.
It won’t be easy, and we can expect fierce resistance from the business community. But as the World War II experience showed, it is possible to rapidly transform the economy when the political will and public pressure are there.
The stakes could not be higher. As the climate crisis intensifies, we must be willing to challenge the corporate-dominated logic of our current system and fight for a more sustainable, equitable, and humane way of life. The future of our planet and our communities depends on it.
Conclusion: Taking Action for a Sustainable Future
The climate crisis is not a distant threat, but a pressing reality that is already causing immense suffering, especially in the Global South. Yet the U.S. government continues to prioritize the interests of the fossil fuel industry over the urgent need to transition to a sustainable energy system.
The false promises of carbon capture and storage technologies cannot distract us from the fundamental changes that are required. We must organize and mobilize to demand a radical transformation of our economy, one that puts people and the planet before profits.
This will require building a broad, powerful movement that connects labor, environmental, and community organizations. We must engage in sustained conversations and collective action to develop a shared vision for a sustainable, equitable future and the strategies to achieve it.
The path forward will not be easy, but the alternative is unthinkable. By drawing on the lessons of history and the power of collective action, we can overcome the entrenched resistance of the business community and build the just, green economy that our world so desperately needs. The time to act is now.
