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Big Oil’s Direct Responsibility For The Climate Emergency

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The upcoming IPO of around 2% of Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state oil producer, is expected to raise about $40 billion and value the entire company at about $2 trillion, making it the largest initial public offering in history. It also highlights how far we have to go in bringing about the urgent decarbonization of the global economy if we are to have even the slightest chance in dealing with the climate emergency.

It is estimated that Aramco alone is responsible for 4.38% of all carbon dioxide and methane emissions since 1965. Twenty companies, all of them oil producers, are directly responsible for one third of greenhouse gas emissions, which makes them responsible for the ongoing progressive extermination of life on the planet.

An article in The Guardian draws a timeline of how, over the past half century, oil companies have known the consequences of their activities, and yet have consistently denied it through disinformation campaigns at all levels, and above all, as George Monbiot rightly says, blamed the problem on users and absolved themselves of all responsibility. Do not believe anything the oil industry says about cleaning up its act: all it is doing is buying time so it can continue to extract oil and gas.

The image above is of the La Coruña oil refinery in northwestern Spain, where my father worked his entire professional life. Like many other families in the area, we were dependent on the place, and we knew nothing about the reality of its activities. About a year ago, the owners of the refinery asked me to participate in a forum on digital transformation. This finally provided me with the bitter opportunity to tell them that the better their company did, the worse it was for the rest of us, and that the best would be its closure. I have no doubts that the oil industry is primarily responsible for the climate emergency, and that the sooner we start dismantling it, the sooner we can begin to think about building a genuinely viable economic system, instead of one that results in environmental catastrophe.

The emissions caused by the burning of hydrocarbons are the most important problem we face, regardless of what the economic interests that continue to finance the climate change deniers say. Think carefully before you give credence to arguments about sunspots unstoppable geological effects, long tailpipe theories, and don’t listen to those who say “we can’t do anything.” If you deny the climate emergency, you should know whose side you’re on.

Shutting down the oil industry is one of the most important tasks we as consumers can help bring about. We have to decarbonize our activities as much as we can, avoid using hydrocarbons; don’t invest in them, don’t finance them, and instead see them for what they really are: a cancer. We must demand of our governments aggressive decarbonization policies now, while they can make a difference, and not in 30 years. The market shows that renewable energies are not only good for the planet, but also for business. It will be by raising awareness of the issue, in promoting decarbonization as the most important technological change in history, that we can create a sustainable future for humanity.

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