GOING TO SCHOOL ON OUR MISTAKES:

Fossil-fuel prices are inherently volatile, and it is vulnerable communities that suffer most from wild fluctuations in global hydrocarbon markets. In the United Kingdom, this year's spike in gas prices has led to an 80% increase in projected household energy bills. In the coming months, many lower-income families will be forced to choose between heating and eating. Meanwhile, BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Total, and Shell raked in profits of $59 billion just in the second quarter of this year.

Worse, the pain that many are already feeling this year pales in comparison to what awaits us if we continue to burn fossil fuels. Earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that if we want to avoid catastrophic warming scenarios, we cannot build any new fossil-fuel infrastructure, and we must rapidly phase out the fossil fuels that we are already using. Similarly, in 2021, the head of the International Energy Agency declared that, "If governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas, and coal, from now - from this year."

It would be madness to think that the current congeries of global crises can be solved with our current energy systems. More investments in fossil-fuel infrastructure and exploration will result in more pain and uncertainty for households, greater concentrations of profits and wealth, and unlivable climatic conditions for billions of people. But that's what we're getting: The OECD and the IEA report that government fossil-fuel subsidies around the world almost doubled in 2021, reaching $697 billion.

If we want reliable, clean, affordable energy for all, the quickest and most effective solution is to increase investment in renewables, energy efficiency, and integrated power grids. Electricity from solar and wind is now cheaper than electricity from gas, and the prices don't undergo dangerous fluctuations. In the UK, where successive governments have failed to lead on building renewable-energy capacity, homeowners are taking it upon themselves to install solar panels, because they know that the investment will pay for itself in lower energy bills.

Renewables are also a faster and cheaper way to expand energy access in rural Africa. Because they can be located closer to the point of consumption, they have been found to be more economically viable than building transmission lines from centralized gas-fueled power stations.

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