British multinational BP has announced its largest oil and gas discovery in 25 years in Brazil’s Santos Basin. By 2030, daily production is expected to be 2.3 to 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, which leaves little doubt that the company is solidly committed to hydrocarbons after a brief flirtation with alternatives like wind and solar energy.
BP’s clever but ill-conceived “green” marketing of “Beyond Petroleum” has shifted to “Petroleum Now and for the Foreseeable Future.”
Similarly chastened by reality, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – once anointed to reverse his predecessor’s policies of developing the nation’s natural resources – has vetoed legislation to tighten environmental licensing. The move greenlights development of energy projects previously stalled by a climate obsession and reflects pressures of having to tend to the welfare of more than 200 million people with pragmatic choices.
Despite promises of net-zero emissions and green energy transitions, the global appetite for fossil fuels remains insatiable. Countries like China and India have mastered the art of paying lip service to climate goals while doubling down on oil, natural gas and coal, and now others are following their lead.
This Brazilian reality check is a powerful note in a global chorus of nations that are shedding the shackles of the net-zero agenda. Governments chasing economic growth may be tempted by the trappings of “low-carbon” credentials, but they want the economic power of fossil fuels.
The policymakers who absurdly treat wind and solar as moral imperatives regard, quite rightly, fossil fuels as indispensable backups to technologies that are available only when the sun and breeze allow it. Moreover, leaders of emerging economies know hydrocarbons underpin growth – as they did in the creation of Western wealth – and so they present climate goals as aspirational ideals rather than binding commitments.
The LaLa Land of the climate industrial complex is nice to contemplate over a glass of chardonnay, but nobody wants to live there.
Brazil’s neighbor Guyana has become the world’s fastest-growing economy, a transformation fueled almost entirely by massive offshore oil discoveries managed by ExxonMobil. Across the globe, countries are planning and constructing dozens of new coal-fired power plants.
China and India have perfected the art of climate doublespeak. They regularly announce record-breaking installations of solar and wind capacity and set distant deadlines for “carbon neutrality.”
Yet, they relentlessly pursue development of fossil fuels. In 2024, China opened more than 40 coal-fired power plants – something no country has ever done. It is also financing and building such plants across Asia and Africa through its Belt and Road Initiative.
Ignoring this, the climate lobby pretends that the “energy transition” is a simple matter of swapping an internal combustion engine for an electric vehicle or a coal plant for a field of solar panels. This is a profound and deliberate misrepresentation of reality.
Europe is no less hypocritical. Norway, often held up as a model of “green” virtue, is the continent’s largest oil and gas producer. It continues to grant new licenses for exploration in the North and Barents seas. Built on hydrocarbon profits, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is a testament to the enduring value of fossil fuels.
This is the same hypocrisy that has political leaders fly private jets to climate summits – creating the lifetime carbon footprint of entire communities in Africa – and then propose to police the thermostats and driving habits of working people.
The next time you hear a speech about ending the use of hydrocarbons, remember BP’s Brazilian oil, the coal plants under construction in Asia and Africa and Norwegian wealth created by offshore wells. And remember that behind the public declarations of achieving a “green” nirvana, real-world actions to sustain life and raise billions out of poverty are keeping oil, natural gas and coal at the center of the global economy – right where they belong.
This commentary was first published at California Globe August 13.
Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Fairfax, Virginia. He holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor’s in engineering from Anna University, India.
