Future of fossil fuels in a carbon constrained world.

The Industrial Revolution which began in the mid 18th century marked a watershed moment in the history of mankind. Fossil fuels which brought in a paradigm shift in manufacturing revolutionised transport amongst other things then is a source of bane today. The climate crisis has been unravelling for several decades now, this has been backed by scientific research data and empirical evidence. The fossil fuels comprising coal, petroleum and natural gas have been at the forefront in fuelling climate change. Fossil fuels have been well integrated into economies, the energy aspirations have always been soaring and meeting such energy requirements is key to reaching higher economic growth orbits.

The future of fossil fuels has been a popular topic of discussion and has also been central to countries' plans moving forward. Having a good plan is not a sufficient condition for success, but not having one is surely a recipe for failure. The 'Global North' led by the European Union and the United States of America have come up with strategies to decarbonise the economy by 2050 and it is heartening to see some of the developing nations such as India also release a 'mid-century strategy' to decarbonise by 2050, while all this looks promising, the implementation on the ground level may have a different story to tell.

The focus must be on a phased transition towards decarbonising, this may have multiple dimensions such as having alternative sources of energy, carbon sequestration, carbon offsetting, carbon pricing, carbon tax etc. The transfer of technology will be key in reducing the salience of fossil fuels in the energy mix of the Global South, this will align with the 'Common but differentiated responsibilities' principle of UNFCCC, technologies revolving around micro-grid power transmission, electric vehicle manufacturing needs diffusion across countries. Several initiatives such as International Solar Alliance, Under2coalition etc need to be encouraged to mitigate the effects of fossil fuels. The global environmental discourse needs acceptance of the fact that fossil fuel energy will not disappear overnight but sufficient efforts must be expended to diminish its salience moving forward.