Energy Crisis 2021: How Bad Is It. And How Long Will It Last? by Christopher Helman
Appeared in Forbes on October 19, 2021
Gina's Thoughts
The author states that "the world has run headlong into an energy crisis" and gives a combination of factors that led the world into "this mess". The decade-long fossil fuels divestment movement is one of these factors. "The ESG and carbon divestment craze has so demonized fossil fuels that institutional investors and governments have cut them out of portfolios entirely, and have instead been flowing capital to more socially acceptable low-carbon alternatives." Therein lies the problem: renewable energy has not proven sufficiently scalable to pick up the slack and there has been chronic underinvestment in the Canadian hydrocarbon sector. As economist Ed Yardeni put it, "Renewables aren't ready for prime time. The rush to eliminate fossil fuels is causing their prices to soar and disrupting the overall supply of energy." Hydrocarbons are going to be a large and reliable part of the energy mix for a long time to come. It is time to invest in the Canadian hydrocarbon sector, not divest.