Although Net Zero goals are commendable and deserve our support it is vital that they be evaluated realistically. This article is one in a series to do with difficulties that might be encountered as companies implement these programs. Other articles on this theme are:

Faster! Faster!

In Lewis Carroll’s famous story Through the Looking-Glass the protagonist, Alice, meets the Red Queen. Suddenly they start running.

Alice never could quite make out, in thinking it over afterwards, how it was that they began: all she remembers is, that they were running hand in hand, and the Queen went so fast that it was all she could do to keep up with her: and still the Queen kept crying ‘Faster! Faster!’ 

Alice and the Queen run faster and faster until,

This post has been updated and moved to The Hubbert Curve.

The matching YouTube for this article is located at the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Scopes video.

Many companies in the energy and process industries have committed to a Net Zero program. Their aim is to cease net emissions of greenhouse gases by a specific year, often 2050. In order to properly define their goal these companies need to identify the emissions for which they are responsible.

What this NOAA article is saying is that it is not the absolute amount of a resource that matters — it is our ability to extract it economically. In the case of gold, it is highly unlikely that it will ever make sense to extract if from the sea. It is simply too dilute. So much for this “get rich quick” scheme.

When discussing Net Zero programs a question that people in the energy and process industries frequently ask is, “How will it affect my career? What do I need to do to stay employed?” Professionals in those industries are rightly concerned that their skills and experience will be uncalled for in a rapidly changing world, particularly in a world where oil companies have stated that they intend to leave the oil business. 

In September 2020 the company BP published their 2020 Energy Outlook. The report's Summary states,