Exxon Official Says a Ban on Fossil Fuel is Unrealistic
August 02 2016 - 1:01PM
Dow Jones News
By Dan Molinski
SAN ANTONIO -- An Exxon Mobil Corp. official on Tuesday
dismissed the growing calls by some nations to sharply curtail the
use of fossil fuels, or even ban them altogether, as
unfeasible.
"They can sit around in the dark and talk about how it worked
out," Ken Golden, commercial adviser for Exxon, said from the
podium at an oil conference in San Antonio. He prefaced his comment
by saying it was his personal view, and that it wasn't Exxon's
official response.
Mr. Golden was giving a speech at the Unconventional Resources
Technology Conference that looked at Exxon's energy outlook to
2040, detailing long-term energy trends.
The Exxon official said the company is concerned about the risks
climate change poses, and that it encourages the use of renewable
and other alternative fuels. But he said, for example, that even
while the use of wind and solar power will rise faster than any
other energy source through 2040, those two will still amount to
less than 3% of total energy use.
"There are billions of people who need to read, need to learn,
need to improve their standard of living," he said. "You simply
cannot do this without fossil fuels."
The fossil fuels of oil, coal and natural gas are expected to
provide about 80% of global energy through 2040, Exxon said.
Growing concerns over carbon emissions' impact on climate change
have made fossil fuels -- mainly oil, natural gas and coal -- more
unpopular than ever.
Some climate activists have been pushing for an eventual total
ban on the use of fossil fuels, saying they should simply remain in
the ground. Such ideas have gained traction in some Pacific Island
nations that face coastal erosion and sea level rise due to climate
change. Even oil-producing nations like Norway have discussed
banning fossil-fuel-powered cars over the coming years.
Exxon is involved in a monthslong political and legal fight over
whether it has long known about the dangers oil poses to climate
change and the environment, but purposely misled the public or hid
its findings.
Mr. Golden said that while Exxon's 2040 outlook expects coal use
to decline sharply, "oil will remain the world's primary energy
fuel," and demand for oil and other liquids will grow by 20% from
2014 to 2040, it said.
That rising oil demand will come entirely from developing
nations, he said, led by China and India. For example, while there
are currently two cars per 100 people in India, this will quintuple
to 10 cars per 100 people by 2040, he said. In the U.S., there are
60 cars for every 100 people.
"The risk to climate change is critical but so is raising the
living standards for billions of people," Mr. Golden said. "We have
to do both."
Write to Dan Molinski at Dan.Molinski@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 02, 2016 12:46 ET (16:46 GMT)
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