Lew Wasserman of the Rockefeller Fund has suggested in The New York Times that the petroleum industry’s continued search for oil and gas is “rampant corporate irrationality” (op-ed July 26, 2019), making arguments that echo the sentiment of many activists but are themselves not very rational.
First and foremost, implicit in Wasserman’s goal is the idea that non-fossil fuel greenhouse gas emissions are somehow acceptable. In fact, there are a number of methods of addressing climate change other than restricting fossil fuel consumption, as one-third of greenhouse gas emissions are unrelated to fossil fuel combustion. Wasserman’s approach resembles the earlier environmental policy of mandating specific technologies instead of goals, which unfortunately has seen a comeback in recent years as a new generation of proponents are ignorant of the history of environmental policymaking.
