If it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between fossil-fuel lobbyists and the billionaire press, that’s because there isn’t one.
Best of times, worst of times: record fossil-fuel profits, inflation and inequality
The 2022 oil and gas crisis resulted in record fossil-fuel profits globally that rehabilitated the oil and gas industry, obstructed the energy transition and contributed to inflation, but their magnitude and beneficiaries have been insufficiently understood. Here we show the size of profits across countries and their distribution across socio-economic groups within the United States, using company income statements, comprehensive ownership data and a network model for propagating profits via shareholdings. We estimate that globally, net income in publicly listed oil and gas companies alone reached US$916 billion in 2022, with the United States the biggest beneficiary with claims on US$301 billion, more than U.S. investments of US$267 billion in the low carbon economy that year. In a network of U.S. shareholdings with 252,433 nodes including privately held U.S. companies, 50 % of profits went to the wealthiest 1 % of individuals, predominantly through direct shareholdings and private company ownership. In contrast the bottom 50 % only received 1 %. The incremental U.S. fossil-fuel profits in 2022 relative to 2021 were enough to increase the disposable income of the wealthiest Americans by several percent and compensate a substantial part of their purchasing power loss from inflation that year, thereby exacerbating inflation inequality. These profits also reinforced existing racial and ethnic inequalities and inequalities between groups with different educational attainments. We discuss how an excess profit tax could be used to both lower inequality and accelerate the energy transition as increasing geopolitical tensions and climate impacts threaten continued volatility in oil and gas markets.
Self-Burn
Thanks to Trump, people around the world are scrambling to get out of fossil fuels.
Trump promotes ‘Freedom Fuel’ stations that sell cheap gas. How they’re able to do so is unclear | CNN Business
President Donald Trump is heralding a new chain of gas stations that are selling gas for $3.479 a gallon, well below both market prices and wholesale costs.
‘The damage is done’: global oil crisis has changed fossil fuel industry for ever, IEA chief says
Exclusive: International Energy Agency’s Fatih Birol, the world’s leading energy economist, also says UK should largely forgo North Sea expansion
How the “Wedges” Climate Change Paper Became a Big Oil Marketing Tool — ProPublica
BP sponsored an elite Princeton research center to address the climate problem without getting off fossil fuels. Its key work, a paper known as “Wedges,” guided climate discourse for a generation.
Europe is BURNING - why are politicians not acting?
Majority of US voters link extreme weather to climate crisis, study finds
Top Democrat says findings show public ‘way ahead of the politicians’ as Trump dismisses global heating as ‘hoax’
Truth, Consequences, Climate, and Demand Destruction
"This is how the attack by one petro-state (ours) on another (Iran's) may be turning out to be very bad for petroleum, because the only thing history loves more than a surprise party is irony." The Crisis The biggest news is always the climate news, and sometimes it's so big
A War for Oil: Economist Michael Hudson on U.S. Quest to Control the World's Oil Trade
Why "Solutions" Fail | Dave Snowden
Tech Policy Press - Technology and Democracy
Tech Policy Press is a nonprofit media and community venture intended to provoke new ideas, debate and discussion at the intersection of technology and democracy. We publish opinion and analysis.
Welcome to Gas City
What is Gas City, you ask? It is Gas Town, but torn apart and rewritten from the ground up as an SDK for building your own dark factories…
Welcome to Gas City
What is Gas City, you ask? It is Gas Town, but torn apart and rewritten from the ground up as an SDK for building your own dark factories…
