Without fossil fuel infrastructure, we will face an energy crisis

Over the past decade, climate activists have successfully lobbied governments, banks and companies to divest from crude oil and natural gas companies. Energy infrastructures are similar to “civilian” infrastructures, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Infrastructure Report Cards It is constantly processed and the resulting bad “scores” are given to the infrastructure of our economy. Underinvestment in infrastructure leads to deterioration and supply chain problems that negatively affect the economy.

ESG’s investments in “environmental, social, and governance” are rampant on Wall Street these days, as climate activists continue to pressure governments, companies and banks to halt oil and gas exploration. ESG investment trends affect energy markets and the supply chain for products and fuels made from crude oil and, paradoxically, lead to increased coal use, carbon emissions, and shortages.

Meanwhile, China, India, East Asia and Europe are mining and burning more coal to make up for the natural gas shortage. China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam and Africa will have more than 3,000 coal-fired power plants by 2030 in those developing countries as billions of people seek access to abundant, affordable and reliable electricity.

ESG concerns now spreading across US companies are responsible for much of the decline in capital spending by international oil companies in recent years. Major financial institutions like Bank of America and Mastercard, investment managers like BlackRock and Vanguard, and hundreds of companies do everything in the financial and business portion of the Great Reset, driving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) measures.

As we have learned from ASCE Infrastructure Report Cards, underinvestment in “supposed” oil and gas exploration facilitates the degradation of fossil fuel infrastructure and leads to an economy riddled with inflation and supply chain disruptions.

Of the three fossil fuels, coal, natural gas, and crude oil, ESG enthusiasts fail to understand that crude oil is rarely used to generate electricity.

In terms of electricity, the world’s continuous electricity is generated from coal, natural gas, hydropower and nuclear power. Crude oil does not play a role in generating electricity.

The primary use of crude oil is not for electricity, but for the manufacture of petroleum derivatives that produce: 6000 products used in our daily lives, the transportation fuel the world needs:

• armies
• 23,000 commercial aircraft
• 20,000 private jets
• 10,000 luxury yachts over 24 meters in length
• 300 cruise ships
• 53,000 merchant ships, and
• 1.2 billion vehicles

The economic resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased demand. The poor performance of electricity generation from wind and sunlight has led to a high demand for both natural gas and coal to provide uninterrupted electricity generation.

With ESG investment guidelines flying over US companies, oil and gas companies have since refused to expand production, even though the data proves this much-needed infrastructure. The share of fossil fuels in global energy production remained unchanged at 81 percent. To the extent that emissions have fallen in Europe and the United States, this is largely due to the switch from coal to natural gas.

Socially responsible investing has been around for decades, but over the past decade ESG has been adopted by major universities, investment banks like BlackRock, governments, the International Energy Agency, the United Nations, and eventually by the oil and gas companies themselves, including Shell, Total and others. a lot. In May, a court in the Netherlands ordered Shell to reduce its emissions, a ruling that forces companies to refrain from investing in oil and gas exploration.

Read the rest of this article at CFACT.org.

Ron Stein is an engineer who, based on 25 years of experience in project management and business development, launched PTS Advance in 1995. He is an author, engineer, and energy expert who writes regularly on energy and economics issues.

Image Credit: CFACT.org Courtesy