8/27/2023 0 Comments States oil production![]() Policy and research will be needed to encourage the transition in the most challenging sectors. Falling costs for renewable energy are helping to push fossil fuels out of electricity generation, but oil and gas are harder to replace in other uses. fuels uncompetitive, their production will naturally decline. When demand-focused policies, like a carbon tax or efficiency standards, make U.S. Our government should let economics determine how much oil and gas is produced in the United States. I’m not advocating for less ambitious climate policy, but for policy that focuses its efforts on the demand and emissions side of the ledger. I propose that the United States enact policies that reduce the use of fossil fuels without carbon capture and storage, ensure that oil and gas produced in the United States have the lowest GHG emissions possible, and prepare for the eventual decline of domestic oil and gas production through policies that will help affected communities through the transition. Fossil fuel companies are a politically expedient enemy, but the hard work of actually reducing GHG emissions requires a focus on nearly every sector of the economy. emissions, but increases global emissions, is no solution at all. We must remember that climate change is a global problem and that the measure that matters is global GHG emissions. In fact, such an outcome could actually increase global emissions, depending on how replacement fuels are produced and the emissions produced in transporting them to the United States. The United States could lose the economic advantages of its oil and gas production without a commensurate reduction in GHG emissions. Yet cutting back domestic oil and gas production without an equally ambitious focus on demand will just increase U.S. Eliminating that production seems like a good way to eliminate emissions. Such policies make sense at first glance given that the United States is making an important contribution to the problem through its domestic oil and gas production. fossil fuel production as a way of combatting climate change, through eliminating oil and gas production on public lands or banning hydraulic fracturing, a technology central to the U.S. The world needs to transition away from fossil fuels, at least those burned without carbon capture and storage.Ī number of Democratic presidential candidates are proposing to limit U.S. However, GHG emissions from fossil fuels are the primary driver of climate change. This trend has brought about numerous economic benefits, including job creation, improvement in the balance of trade, and greater competitiveness for certain industries. ![]() The United States is now the world’s leading producer of both oil and natural gas. oil and natural gas production has soared in the past decade. However, the world and the United States are not currently on a path to achieve this level of reduction.Īdding to the challenge, U.S. Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner, as advocated by many of the Democratic candidates, is consistent with avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. The two parties are polarized on the issue-many Republicans, including our current president, deny the existence of the problem while the Democrats running to replace him in the 2020 election are proposing extremely ambitious goals for reducing U.S. Climate change is clearly one of the most important challenges of our time, but the politics of climate policy in the United States is difficult. ![]()
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