Last week, a colleague of mine sent me a snapshot of a
resignation letter from another colleague working in the same company. That
letter was posted in a social media platform which raised a bit of storm. That
colleague had accused the company, Shell (Oil and Gas major), for doing
everything to harm the environment and doing nothing to reduce the harmful
impact of oil and gas production to the environment. The person’s conscience did
not allow for continuing in the company hence the person decided to end the long-lasting
relationship with the company, which was very much valued by the person in fact.
I respected and admired that person for taking such a bold decision and not compromising
on the values upheld by that person. Leaving a company like Shell, after a long
career would have been a difficult decision for that person.
Last year, Shell’s CEO, Ben van Buerden was confronted by a
young Scottish climate activist in Edinburgh during a TED talk in which he was
invited to speak. As an employee of Shell, I felt hurt somewhere deep in my heart,
partly from the fact that, the accusations were against the company, which is
giving me my bread and butter, and partly because, I was finding it difficult
to sift the truth from the loads of fake news spreading around the globe through
various media and find out what exactly is happening. I also respected Ben the
way he handled the situation and made his and Shell’s stand clear.
Few years back, I happen to read about the child climate
activist from Sweden who had avoided all plane travels just to minimize contributing
to greenhouse gas emissions. I really admired that person for leading by
example. Before accusing anyone of any wrongdoing, a responsible person should
walk the talk which is exactly what this young activist did. This person too
was very much critical of Shell and other companies producing Oil and gas as their
activities pollute the environment with lot of green house gases, especially CO2.
Introspection
The above mentioned three incidents are just a few that came
to my mind in the context of growing resistance or hatred towards fossil fuels
and the companies that are involved in the extraction of fossil fuels. This
prompted me to have an introspection and see what my thoughts are in this
subject. Before I can dwell deep into that, let me put here some statements
which are unambiguous in my mind.
-
Do I believe that the climate crisis is happening, and it is not
something like a fake news? Absolutely, I do believe it is happening.
-
Do I believe that the Oil and Gas companies contribute
significantly to the increased emission of green house gases like CO2? Absolutely yes. But so are other companies
like cement industries, metal manufacturing companies, fertilizer producing companies
etc. Contributions come indirectly from anyone who chooses to use the products
from such companies as well. Is it fair to hide those contributions? Not at
all.
-
Do we need to reduce the dependency to fossil fuels and use more
renewable and green energy? Fully agree that we need to move towards the green energy solution. But I
am not foolish to hope that the transition will happen at 100% scale in few days’
time. It must be a pragmatic solution with a mix of solutions that can slowly
replace the fossil fuels with green alternatives, not just in the energy
sector, but in the countless other sectors where now petroleum products are
used.
-
Do I believe that the world will say goodbye to Oil and Gas
forever? Well... I
cannot answer this with confidence now. If technological revolutions in energy
space and material sciences change drastically, this is not an impossible thing
to happen. But the pragmatist in me says, that it will not happen in my
generation’s time.
-
Am I contributing to the global emissions of CO2 and hence the climate
crisis, as my job involves finding hydrocarbons? Partly yes. But partly I am contributing to the
comfortable life of people all around me, as the hydrocarbons I help to find, eventually
go into the making of countless products that we all use in our daily lives.
As my entire career has been with Oil and gas companies, my
analysis and opinions may be biased towards them. But I am trying my best not
to be biased, as I too have a responsibility towards the world I live in, the
next generation, like my daughter, whom I am raising in this world. I do think
and question about my actions, through my company’s actions, which can impact
the climate of the world my daughter is growing in. So, if not to anyone else,
I will be true to myself in my analysis. If there are any wrong conclusions,
that could be purely because of my lack of knowledge in the subject or my lack
of proper information and not because of any bias or intention to defend the oil
and gas producers.
Let he/she who is without sin cast the first stone
Every time I see some protest in the name of climate crisis, every
time I see someone pointing fingers to the oil and gas companies, I remember
the quote from Bible which says, “Let he/she who is without sin cast the first
stone”. So, I ask this question in my mind.
Do these protesters or activists understand the full impact
of the usage of fossil fuels? Or are they looking at the superficial picture only?
If they are truly concerned about the climate impact caused by the fossil fuel
industry and choose to portray those companies as evil, then ethically speaking
who has the right to make such protests? In my view, such persons, should
- Avoid
any vehicles to travel, not just petrol and diesel vehicles, but Electrical
vehicles also, as many parts in those vehicles use petroleum products (lubricants,
plastic parts, upholsteries to name a few).
- Avoid
using mobile phones, credits cards, deodorants, cosmetic products, perfumes, synthetic
cloths, toothbrush, paste, detergents, shampoo as all of which have
petrochemicals derived from oil and gas. (Even the 100% cotton cloths will have
plastic parts like buttons, sometimes)
- Walk
only on the unpaved roads as the modern city roads are made using tar (petroleum
product), or concrete (which has cement, product of another industry, which contributes
to global CO2 production).
- Stop
using any form of heating system in the winter, unless the heat source is not
from natural gas. But remember that, even if a non-oil and gas type source is
used, there will be countless petroleum products used during the production of
that source of energy.
- Eat
only food that is grown at their home in a 100% organic way, as the food we get
from outside would have used fertilizers, preservatives etc., which again have
link to petrochemicals.
- Live in perhaps unpainted mud houses or unpainted wooden houses only as concrete and paints both have link to industries contributing to the green house emissions.
The list can be enormous. I honestly believe that anyone who
wants to blame the oil and gas industry should first renounce all such products
used to provide comforts in her/his life and then do the protest which is
ethical. If the person is not ready to renounce the comforts, do not want to
engage in a dialogue to look for solutions, but just want to point fingers to an
industry, it is nothing but hypocrisy. I was not being sarcastic here. But I
just wanted people to look beyond what they see on the top. Think with a
pragmatic mindset before opposing anything blindly.
Some may think that I am advocating
for continuing the extraction of Oil and gas in a reckless way to hamper the environment
we live in. Note at all. As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, I am
very much aware of the impact of Oil and gas production. I also believe that the
solution lies in putting equal pressure on
- Governments
to provides more financial aid and incentives to organizations and academia to
look at alternate options at a rapid time scale.
- Governments
to implement policies that will mandate carbon neutrality immediately.
- Researchers
in the academia to work on war footing to bring the changes required to move
away from fossil fuels with alternatives.
These should be happening with a constructive mind set and
not with a blame game or destructive mentality. People should accept the fact
that the usage of petroleum products are so deep rooted in our daily lives, and
one should not be blinded by the statements that moving out of fossil fuels for
energy usage can solve the climate crisis. Still, we are dependent on the fossil
fuels for the petrochemical components used in daily lives. So, a gradual
transition with a mix of fossil fuels and greener renewable solutions, with
more focus on getting carbon neutrality or even getting into more carbon
negative space, is the way forward in my view, which I think is more constructive
thinking.
Potential Solutions
As a tech savvy person and a geoscientist, I feel there is
good potential for technologies like Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS),
which can help in reducing the global emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere and achieve
carbon neutrality (net zero emission) or even “net negative” emission. It is
not impossible. A small county, Bhutan, has proved that natural solutions can
be effective in becoming carbon negative. It is the only country now in the
world to achieve this (i.e., Bhutan absorbs more CO2 in a year than it emits into
the atmosphere, through its abundant forest cover). CCS technologies can be used
to capture CO2 from various emitters, and it can be then stored in the underground
formations permanently without impacting the environment. Till a complete
replacement for fossil fuels and petrochemicals are found, CCS based solutions
can help in using fossil fuels and renewable energy solutions together with
minimum impact on environment. But strong commitments and encouragement from
governments around the world are critical for such technologies to be implemented.
Another key factor critical in the success of such solutions is the proper
awareness of the stakeholders like the common man, who now faces the risk of
being bombarded with fake information as well. Baseless fears, triggered by
fake news can kill a project, as seen from many examples around the world. They
should be properly informed about the pros and cons of any such technology and
their concerns should be properly addressed. Activism should concentrate the
energy into such things rather than in blindly opposing anything.
We all know that plastic is not good
for environment. But can we think of having a 100 % plastic free life suddenly?
One may argue that civilizations existed before the invention of plastics. Yes,
it is true. But the lifestyle and comforts enjoyed by those civilizations were
also different and not comparable to what we have today. The solution is to
advance further in research and development and invent more ecofriendly
materials to replace petroleum dependent products. That needs time, though I
agree that we are perhaps sitting on a time bomb and have limited time on our
hands, before things can spiral out.
Nations will have boundaries. But the global climate will not
follow national boundaries. The problems we face are not just one nation’s or
few individual’s or few company’s problems. It is impacting everyone. Hence there
is no point in engaging in a blame game. Rather think about the scenarios to
co-exist and then gradually find alternates to everything for which now we are dependent
on petrochemicals or fossil fuels.
Who is the real culprit?
What is the real problem? Is it the fossil fuel usage or the emission
of CO2 into the air? I believe that we should focus our attention to the real
problem of CO2 emission. Fossil fuel usage is a secondary problem which need
not be the prime focus in my view. When the primary problem is addressed
adequately, the secondary problem will no more be a problem. If there can be a way to reduce the CO2 entering
the atmosphere, without renouncing the oil and gas products (though we need to
reduce the usage in a timely manner as discussed earlier), isn’t that a
solution we should look for? The technology like CCS which was mentioned earlier,
is important in this context. Bringing in more cleaner fuels like Hydrogen (Blue
or Green Hydrogen) , Enhanced or Advanced Geothermal solutions, at the same
time use CCS to capture the CO2 from the fossil fuel related usage, should be a
way forward.
Tail End
Recently during my business trip to the Hague in Netherlands,
I was watching many office commuters and college going kids using bicycle, or public
transportation like trains and Trams. I have seen that many times before also.
But this time I looked at it from a climate change crisis point of view. Many
of those people had the choice to use a car instead of bicycle or trams. Instead,
they chose a greener option. But also note that there were, proper infrastructure
like a separate road for cyclists. If that infrastructure was not there,
perhaps the number of cyclists would have been much less. So, I believe that
everyone should make choices responsibly, in a constructive way, rather than in
a negative and destructive way. Also, the governments should support and fund the
initiatives to help people and companies to make environment friendly choices. If
it is only finger pointing and blame game, perhaps the world will be marching
towards a point of no return. I wish not to even think of that Apocalyptic time.
As a lover of science fiction movies, admirer of Elon Musk
and the fictional Tony Stark in Avengers movies, I believe that some drastic
technology, a game changer, might change the way how the world works now.
When Henry Ford came up with the Ford car, the problem of “horse
poop” filling the streets of London and New York (as the mode of transportation at that time was horse driven carts), “the great horse manure
crisis” forecasted by the experts of that time disappeared into oblivion. They predicted that the streets of London and New York would be soon filled with horse poop. But the prediction went wrong with the emergence of automobiles. Similarly,
I hope to see another Ford, who may help in making the current problem of
climate change a thing of the past. Is it too much wishful thinking?
Jose Varghese
2nd June 2022
Bangalore
References
1.
TheGreat Horse Manure Crisis of 1894
2.
Petroleumproducts used in daily life
3.
Stigma iscosting oil and gas majors their staff
4.
Bhutan-Carbon negative country
5.
TEDconference – Ben van Beurden
6.
Whatis CCS
7.
CCS talks- all youneed to know about CO2 storage
