The world is waking up to the fact the climate-policy goal of achieving “net-zero” CO2 emissions brings crippling economic pain. Fossil-fuel prices shot up 26% across industrialized economies last year and will rise globally by another 50% this year.
Politicians blame Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the long-term trend stems mostly from governments demonizing fossil fuels while their societies remain dependent on them. Since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, global fossil-fuel investment has halved, inevitably driving up prices.
As fossil-fuel prices climb, activists believe people will shift painlessly to renewable energy sources. But they’ve made a major miscalculation: Renewables are far from ready to power the world.
