Shell admits 1.5C climate goal means immediate end to fossil fuel growth

I’m not sure what’s the point of focusing on 1.5C anymore. I think the writing on the wall is pretty clear that we’re going to double that at least.<p>Barring any miracle in carbon sequestration technology anyway. I hope we get a miracle.

For all of the shellacking the fossil fuel industry gets (rightfully so), they have signalled several times that they are willing to transition to lower productions and higher prices and even into green energy. In 2016 oil companies spent the least amount on oil discovery <i>in over 70 years</i>!<p>It was only after extreme political pressure that oil companies were basically forced into re-expanding capacity again.<p>The market is willing - the demand is weak.

climate change isn&#x27;t a problem of science it is a problem of oppression. It is an unjust decision by the power elites to continue the status quo while hoping some silly valley hoohaw is going to come up with a silver bullet but if not who cares, got mine. It is about stealing from present and future generations. It is about stealing from the poor, people of color who will be displaced by rising sea levels. It is about stealing from the plants and animals we share this planet with that are currently going through a massive extinction event.

One eye-opening fact I recently learned is that fossil fuel infrastructure being built <i>today</i> is expected to have a three-decade lifespan, after completion of its construction. So every time you hear about a new pipeline, drilling project, or refinery being built you know that the people sitting in the rooms authorizing billions of dollars being allocated to the project all believe it will safely be operating and producing profit 35 years from now; they wouldn&#x27;t invest otherwise. This is what business as usual looks like. Every new fossil energy project is incompatible with a world that takes climate change seriously. Money talks.

Somewhat clickbaity:<p><i>The dramatic shift in its new “Energy Security Scenarios” is not explicitly acknowledged, but, as Carbon Brief’s analysis shows, is hidden in plain sight.</i><p>So, no, they haven&#x27;t admitted it at all.

Growth? <i>Growth?!</i> Yes, we absolutely 100% should stop immediately digging the hole deeper.

Does anyone have recommendations for good reading on this subject? What this means for combustion engines as a whole? I am trying to imagine where the push for clean energy will lead. I am fully on team green but I think the switch happened too late. I feel like there is a future where you have a large percent of the population (at least in the US) where EVs are too expensive to afford the monthly payment&#x2F;up front payment to switch but gas prices rise to a point where they can&#x27;t afford to fill their tank anymore either. People will always say &quot;just use public transit&quot; but most cities in the US have a barely managing system if they even have one.

It&#x27;s certainly an improvement that now they speak with partial evidence and admittance, compared to paying for &quot;climate change hoax&quot; campaigning.<p>In context, the heating we had now already caused massive destruction in polar, in whales, in shallow sea, in mosquitos, in plagues, in desertification. Thus any decrease is welcome. We are not having quota to spare. We&#x27;re trying to pay a subprime mortgage made before.<p>Kudos to Shell for admitting that, but the question is how in the world they are able to function and sell stuff? Grid company can switch to renewable comfortably, but Shell found its way in digging ground.<p>I guess they at least will make the shift to natural gas as that stuff ain&#x27;t that terrible compared to petroleum, and they can still sell petroleum for plastic.

I never understood why this 1.5-2C global temperature is such a big issue when dinosaurs were living with average 15-20C Earth temperature and much higher CO2 levels (you can just google &quot;world temperature history&quot; or &quot;co2 levels history&quot;. There were much more plants, diverse wildlife, etc. Having warm Earth is much better than having an Ice age, right? Also higher CO2 levels mean more ingridients for new trees&#x2F;plants (eventually - food). I&#x27;m not trolling but really curious on this PoV and seems that the media is onesided on this topic (higher temperature &#x2F; CO2 levels - bad and that&#x27;s it). Noone is looking at it at a diferent angle.

climate change is also affected by the amount of swamp we replace by concrete. here in the Louisiana wetlands, the amount of CO2 that the environment can &quot;sink&quot; is enormous, but the wetlands are shrinking every day for more refineries and pipelines and.... there&#x27;s a balance we haven&#x27;t found and don&#x27;t want to find. rich people apparently don&#x27;t really care about their grandchildren.

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20230425155432&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.resilience.org&#x2F;stories&#x2F;2023-04-24&#x2F;shell-admits-1-5c-climate-goal-means-immediate-end-to-fossil-fuel-growth&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20230425155432&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.resil...</a>

Most pressing issue in our futures

A few more degrees won&#x27;t hurt anyone... I mean everyone.

<i>Keep it in the ground</i>

admits it, yes.<p>gonna do something about it, no.<p>they&#x27;ve talked a good game about this previously but made no changes; no reason to think this will be any different.

&quot;growth&quot;? lol, more like usage.

Good.

let&#x27;s just fire the chemicals into the air already and hope for the best

Net Zero 2050[1], the very public and very well publicly elaborated plan by the United Nations and many climate groups and other NGOs to have zero net carbon emissions by 2050, is such a ridiculously extreme set of targets that it kind of looks more like a Peak Oil mitigation plan than an implementable piece of public policy. Peak Oil production was in 2018, and it hasn&#x27;t gotten back there since.<p>Basically, I couldn&#x27;t imagine Net Zero 2050 getting implemented in a democratic society. Personal automobiles and single family homes are ridiculously popular. If the amount of oil production is going to decline precipitously anyway, no matter what anyone says, why not have everyone prepare for it and make plans pretending they are doing it voluntarily. If global leaders talked about Peak Oil, that would promote nations to stop exporting oil and would stoke nationalism and make the problem dramatically worse for oil importing countries. Instead this Climate Change narrative brings countries together in a global regulatory framework.<p>I think part of the Ukraine war is that Russia, being one of the last big oil exporters, is probably aware of the real situation and wants to use their energy reserves in their own national interest. China wants to partner with Russia to benefit from those interests. The West would rather have the Russian natural resources come under the influence of a leadership team more amenable to distributing those resources in a way more in-line with a global government working to manage the energy transition. Soros said in a recent speech that finishing the Ukraine War will help us move on to tackling Climate Change[2]. Recent Russian estimates show the war continuing on till at least 2027. At that point we&#x27;ll be much further along the possible oil depletion curve and Russia&#x27;s economic power will only increase.<p>I would look for negligible attempts at carbon capture and sequestration, steady &quot;voluntary&quot; OPEC output cuts and a growing reliance on coal as tells that this is a Peak Oil mitigation plan and not about Climate Change. Look at China[3] lately going all-in on coal energy production for example.<p>[1]<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;profnfenton&#x2F;status&#x2F;1645186289933623296" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;profnfenton&#x2F;status&#x2F;1645186289933623296</a><p>[2]<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.project-syndicate.org&#x2F;commentary&#x2F;climate-crisis-deepens-and-ukraine-outlook-improves-by-george-soros-2023-03" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.project-syndicate.org&#x2F;commentary&#x2F;climate-crisis-...</a><p>[3]<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ourworldindata.org&#x2F;grapher&#x2F;coal-production-by-country">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ourworldindata.org&#x2F;grapher&#x2F;coal-production-by-countr...</a>