Post by Ewoud Lauwerier

On the website of #OPEC, the Organization of the Oil Exporting Countries, its Secretary General makes 𝗮 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 ‘𝗳𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗹 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹’ 𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗲𝗹 (https://lnkd.in/g_n9BYyu). I couldn’t agree more – though, admittedly, not for the reasons put forward by the article: (1) No, what matters in a reflection on the term ‘fossil fuel’ is not that “𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘦𝘭 [𝘣𝘶𝘵] [𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴] 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘴, 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵”. (2) The issue is not that by ‘defining oil only as fuel, we are mischaracterizing how we use it’, because “𝘈𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘖𝘗𝘌𝘊’𝘴 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘖𝘪𝘭 𝘖𝘶𝘵𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 2025, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘪𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥 2024-2050”. (3) Neither is the problem one of some semantic inaccuracy in using a concept that was coined as long ago as 1759, as the argument continues. (4) Nor is it that there are “𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘪𝘭”, as we can furthermore read in the article. 𝗡𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗜 𝗱𝗼 𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱’𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 - 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 “𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣”, 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀, 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗶𝗹 𝗮𝘀 ‘𝗳𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗹 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹’. 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻 ‘𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹’. After all, what are commonly referred to as ‘fossil fuels’ – be it oil, gas, or coal – are nothing else than hydrocarbon deposits, created within planet Earth’s system through geological processes developing over millions of years; a time-scale unfathomable to human experience. And, using these from a human perspective unquestionably finite substances as the most basic ‘fuel’ to society (meaning, a resource, in whatever sense), is in no way sustainable. It doesn’t matter if it is as an energy source for transportation or as a feedstock to an array of mainly short-lived plastic products and other chemicals. Doing so is not sound; it is not smart; it is not innovative. It never will and never can be. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗿 #𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗖, 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀, 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗶𝗹, 𝗮𝘀 ‘𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹’. 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵. #OPEC #climatechange #fossilfuels #oil #chemicals #sustainability