A modest downturn in demand triggered a crash in oil prices that will strand billions of dollars in fossil fuel assets and, perhaps, signal a dramatic reduction in carbon emissions. That the inciting incident was a worldwide pandemic and not, say, the adoption of electric vehicles or the establishment of a price on carbon, may not matter. Oil, says CarbonTracker’s Mike Coffin, “is in long-term structural decline.” The cost of renewable energy and EVs have been on a steep downward curve, making many new and existing fossil fuel projects unviable. The Spanish energy company Repsol in December became the first oil and gas major to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050 and wrote down $5 billion – for starters – in fossil fuel assets. BP followed last month (see “Leaders and laggards in the race to net-zero”). Suddenly write-downs look quaint, as fossil fuel producers risk outright default. Read Full Article - Impactalpha, March 13, 2020
