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Wednesday, March 3, 2021

"Biden’s renewables push in a fossil fuel world"

 Source:


"President Biden has declared war on Fossil fuels.  

He is also pushing for an end to international funding for fossil fuels in foreign countries.

But do these ambitious plans to curb fossil use and reduce emissions make any sense when the majority of world’s primary energy is still derived from fossil fuels?

And how do we reconcile this with the fact that major economies are embracing fossil fuels at a record rate?

President Biden ... has halted issuance of new oil drilling rights, with exemption to native American owned lands.

... On January 27, 2020, President Biden signed the “Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad”, outlining his administration’s plan to decarbonize the American economy.

It also declared that climate change will be an essential element of the U.S. foreign policy and that the U.S. will discourage fossil fuel use in other countries.

... It is a well-known fact that Both Wind and Solar need backup from fossil fuel sources.

... it remains to be seen if temperate countries like the U.S. and Germany will reduce their fossil dependency further.

Despite the unprecedented number of executive orders, Biden’s war on fossil fuels may not impact the global fossil fuel trade or the use of fossil fuels in major fossil fuel economies.

Here is why

... nations like Australia, India, Russia, and China are doing exactly the opposite of what Biden intends to achieve.

They are embracing coal and increasing coal dependency.


It almost seems like a parallel universe of sorts, a coal haven.


India and China ( ... 3 billion people) have pledged total support to their fossil fuel industry.

China’s extreme Winter power demand forced utilities to reopen coal plants.

Beijing continued to import large amount of coal from Indonesia, Australia, Russia, Mongolia and the Philippines.

Last month, India’s Home Minister declared that fossil fuels are an integral part of country’s ambition to become a $5 trillion economy.

Russia has consolidated its position as the top exporter of coal to Turkey and Morocco.

... Russia also held talks with India and Japan recently to increase co-operation in a number of areas including coal mining.

... The anti-fossil policies of Biden ... stand in stark contrast to the developing countries’ open embrace of fossil fuels.

The extensive and continued use of fossil fuels globally pose a challenge to Biden’s vision of a global renewable utopia.

His intentions to curb global funding for fossil fuels may not succeed.

... The Interior Secretary nominee Deb Haaland now says that “President Biden’s pause on new oil and gas leasing is a temporary measure and won’t be a permanent thing.”

... Biden’s aggressive anti-fossil agenda is likely to fail at the international stage, albeit minor disruptions."