October 2, 2021 — Gas crisis shows why we must stop demonising fossil fuels

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October 2, 2021

Gas crisis shows why we must stop demonising fossil fuels by Merryn Somerset Webb
Appeared in The Financial Times on September 24, 2021

Gina's Thoughts

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! The chain of events that the author writes about is this: First, natural gas price increases make the fuel unaffordable for two of the UK's big industrial fertiliser plants, forcing them to shut down (natural gas is the feedstock for ammonia, which is used to make fertiliser). Carbon dioxide is captured from ammonia production, so the plant shutdown creates a shortage of CO2 in the UK. CO2 is used to make dry ice that supermarkets use to keep food cool in their delivery vans - so no CO2, no ice cold delivery vans, and no ice cream! The author contends that we can live without ice cream but what about the things that really matter? Oil and Gas fuel every other industry and the ice cream example shows just how reliant we are on fossil fuels. InvestNow agrees with the author's message that "we should stop demonising fossil fuels - evangelising about ESG, following the trend to divest from shares in oil companies and kiboshing new projects with regulation, high financing costs, and the like." The focus should be on investment and innovation within the energy sector. A decade of ESG and the divestment movement have only raised costs for all: Hydrocarbons still make up 80 per cent of the global energy mix and demand is rising - a decade of ESG and divestment nonsense has done nothing except raise costs, hurt competitiveness, drive off investment and kill jobs. If we invest in Canadian oil and gas instead of divesting from it, we can have our ice cream and eat it too.

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