World oil production and the Biden-Harris climate policy

The climate crisis is intensifying, as everyone can see and feel, even if climate deniers of various types want to keep pretending otherwise.

But unlike more long-standing political disputes, we don't have generations of the kind of political rhetoric that help people to focus their understanding of political proposals, like "Deficits," "inflation", and "balanced budgets," for instance.

Not that economic policies are simple, either, of course. Adam Tooze walks through some of the complications of climate control in an article about a statement on oil production put out this week by Biden's National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, indicated the intent of the Biden-Harris Administration to push for international increases in oil production to limit oil and gas price increases. (By pushing for more oil production, the US is killing its climate pledges Guardian 08/12/2021)

The implications for our climate policy are serious:

Yes, you read that correctly. One of the most senior figures in the Biden administration, the administration that promised climate was “everywhere” in its policy, is declaring that an increase in petrol prices to $3.17 per gallon is a matter of national security and that the US reserves the right to cajole Opec and Russia into flooding the world with more oil.

We should not mince words: if this is the stance of the Biden administration then its decarbonisation agenda has been well and truly buried. According to no less an authority than the IEA, if we are to reach net zero by 2050, we need to end fossil fuel capacity expansion now. In Europe, the likes of Shell are being told by the courts to make plans accordingly. To fill the gap, Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producing company, has let it be known that it is expanding its capacity. Biden’s national security adviser has just given it the green light.

Politicians are very aware that rising gas prices can cause political and social problems. That was part of the motivation for the "yellow vest" protests in France that proved to be so politically vexing for just about everybody. So the political dilemma for the Biden-Harris Administration is real: "The Biden administration is committed to a foreign policy for the American 'middle class'. On Sullivan’s interpretation, that means pushing the oil oligarchs of Opec and Russia to expand production. It is completely at odds with the IPCC’s message, published only days before."