American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2023 - 89

European Energy Errors Illustrative
WASHINGTON-The ballooning
costs-both political and economic-associated
with trying to slash greenhouse
gas emissions and reach net-zero carbon
dioxide emissions by 2050 are becoming
more apparent to Europeans, suggests
the Institute for Energy Research. Even
so, the organization assesses, the Biden
administration seems determined to reenact
the same mistakes.
According to IER, Europeans increasingly
are growing skeptical of wind and
solar projects, for which the costs of operational
repairs are proving surprisingly
steep. Simliarly, it observes, a new offshore
North Sea wind project was canceled
amid cost overruns and recognition of its
projected environmental downsides. Ultimately,
IER suggests, Europeans are
acknowledging reality.
" French President Emmanuel Macron
recently called for a European regulatory
break, warning that without it, the European
Union will lose all its industrial companies, "
IER recounts. " Germany is abandoning
green energy, opening coal mines and successfully
arguing for internal combustion
engines to continue to be sold, only now
with biofuels as fuel rather than diesel,
despite such fuels not being economically
viable for mass use. In the United Kingdom,
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced
his decision to open the North Sea to
more oil and gas drilling as it was better
for Britain to produce its own oil and gas
than import them. Europe is waking up. "
Nevertheless, the analysis continues, the
rhetoric among European leaders such as
Macron falsely portrays the United States
as dragging its feet on GHG emissions.
" But that isn't true, " IER attests. " The
United States reduced its emissions by
more than any country in the world-
by 1,047.4 million metric tons between
2005 and 2022. The next-largest reduction
was in Japan with 225.9 million metric
tons. CO2 reductions in the entire European
Union between 2005 and 2022
were still less than the reductions of the
United States by 100 million metric
tons. The U.S. reductions were achieved
not by President Biden's heavy-handed
climate programs as CO2 emissions rose
363 million metric tons since Biden became
president, but mainly due to natural
gas replacing coal power in the generating
sector, as horizontal drilling and hydraulic
fracturing made natural gas abundant
and affordable. "
Meanwhile, the organization points
out, Chinese CO2 emissions increased
4,471 million metric tons during the same
period amid that country's increased coal
use. The next-largest increases came from
India, with 1,395 million metric tons of
CO2 emissions.
" The prevailing notion of 'climate justice'
suggests that wealthy countries that
grew their economies while emitting CO2
for a century need to do more than poorer,
less developed countries that are historically
less responsible for GHG emissions, "
IER notes. " Interestingly, this is a direct
admission that energy use makes life
better for people, which runs counter to
the popularized impression in the West. "
IER goes on to cite American Enterprise
Institute Scholar Benjamin Zycher,
who says the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's own climate model-
which exaggerates the climate impact of
GHG cuts-shows that public policies
that seek to shrink GHG emissions will
do little or nothing to impact the climate.
" Net-zero U.S. GHG emissions effective
immediately would yield a reduction
FIGURE 1
Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reductions Between 2005 and 2022
million metric tons
Spain
France
Italy
Germany
U.K.
Japan
United States
114
120.1
152.5
191.4
206.7
225.9
1,047.4
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
in global temperatures of 0.173 degrees
C by 2100, " IER recounts. " That effect
would be barely detectable given the
standard deviation (about 0.11 degrees
C) of the surface temperature record. The
entire Paris agreement: about 0.178 degrees
C. A 50% reduction in Chinese GHG
emissions: 0.184 degrees C. Net-zero
emissions by the entire Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development:
0.352 degrees C. A global 50% reduction
in GHG emissions implemented immediately
and maintained strictly would reduce
global temperatures in 2100 by
0.687 degrees C. Note that GHG emissions
in 2020 fell by about 3.7% as a result of
the Covid-19 economic downturn. "
Ignoring Reality
Although EPA's models predict negligible
climate benefits from particularly
aggressive GHG cuts, President Biden
continues to use climate concerns as a
rationale to pursue regulatory initiatives
FIGURE 2
Carbon Dioxide Emissions Increases Between 2005 and 2022
million metric tons
Iran
Saudia Arabia
Indonesia
India
China
258
269
359
1,395
4,471
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500 3,000 3,500
4,000
4,500 5,000
SEPTEMBER 2023 89
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