Quote:So big oil supports AGW. Why would it do so, when reduction in carbon use MEANS reduction in income? What's the reason? Come on, tell me what the reason must be!
Scarcity (whether real or contrived) of desired commodities always drives up prices. Bar none.
Hydrocarbons are the most abundant, efficient, and inexpensive energy source that humanity has access to with the widest and most effective daily uses. Nothing else comes close; not wind, solar, tidal, or nuclear, nor does the future hold any real hopes for the first 3 ever being useful.
I would argue that reduction of carbon use increases income, and considerably.
Big oil will always be able to buy the carbon offset credits of smaller companies as they already have such vast market penetration and of course enormous profits. Sure small companies may be able to sell credits, but the ability to effectively transition to greatly increased production, grow as a company, and then have to purchase credits as an offset makes a companies ability to expand extremely difficult. If the concept of the credits is to reduce emissions then the credit quota should ostensibly never increase but rather gradually decrease. In this case, no matter what, smaller companies will get the squeeze anyway while the big boys can scoop up the remains. All the while the commodity of oil gains increasing, albeit contrived scarcity, thereby raising value.
This is no different in any way to what the landed aristocracy of England and the Eastern Establishment families have been engaged in for the last 150+ years, which is to limit the availability of land to the hoi-poloi, via land reserves, parks, nature conservancies, and environmental regulations. The net effect being artificially increased land values and control / limitation of resources. It's no conspiracy, rather it is simply an
agenda and a very open one at that.
The DeBeers stranglehold on a abundant semi-precious stone vastly increases value as well.
The dividing line between nefarious conspiracy and open agenda is often muddy and confused for 'conspiracy' researchers due to the community being infused with so much right-wing paranoia that, deluded or otherwise, is convinced, anything approximating class consciousness is communism or socialism. Class consciousness accurately delineates who the enemy is and has always been; aristocracy and oligarchy both of which are up to their necks in the oil industry.
I see no mystery here.
MMM