The Poor Need More Energy, Not Less
Pope Francis is making his first ever trip to the U.S. this week, with stops in Washington D.C., New York and Philadelphia.
The pope — who has been outspoken about alleviating poverty — has been equally clear in his condemnation of fossil fuels. This summer, he called for an urgent, drastic cut in fossil-fuel emissions in an appeal to pull “Mother Earth” out of a “spiral of self-destruction” a message he is expected to reprise during a September 25 speech before the United Nations.
Energy restrictions based on climate fears will not help — and in fact, would harm — the world’s underdeveloped nations, as energy deprivation is key component of poverty. As Forbes contributor Fred Smith notes:
“Long before the theoretical effects of climate change are ever felt, the alarmist policies favored by United Nations agencies and major environmental advocacy groups would severely hobble developing countries’ economies. Replacing affordable and reliable fossil fuels with more expensive, less reliable alternative sources would increase the cost of energy around the world. That would be bad enough for low income people in developed nations. If forced on developing countries, it would be a humanitarian disaster.”
There is a growing body of evidence that the pope’s favored policies to stop global warming are actually increasing the poverty he seeks to alleviate. The renewable energy he supports to “replace fossil fuels without delay” has:
· Left approximately 800,000 households in Germany without electricity because their electricity prices are now three times higher than the average rate in the United States.
· Increased Spain’s residential electric rates by 70 percent, all while wind capacity increased by about 50 percent and solar capacity grew about seven-fold.
· Tax hikes on oil in Greece drove up heating costs by 46 percent in 2012 and led to illegal logging in national parks.
The story on favoring environmental policy over energy is similar in the U.S. A new report out of Berkeley confirms that the $18 billion the government has spent on subsidies for clean energy technologies — including federal tax credits, renewable portfolio standards, state-level subsidies for hybrid and electric cars — has done little to benefit America’s poorest citizens, and in fact, “over the last decade U.S. clean energy tax credits have gone predominantly to higher-income Americans.”
This is rather unfortunate since, as I noted a few weeks back, President Obama’s Clean Power Plan relies heavily on similar subsidies for renewable energy technologies — over clean-burning U.S. supplies of natural gas — to offset the huge increases in electricity costs in states where coal provides the majority of the electric power.
More energy, not less, is the driving force behind prosperity and standards of living. Worldwide, over the past three decades, coal and natural gas helped 1.3 billion people get electricity and escape debilitating poverty. As I said in my previous post: Without energy services — spanning the range from oil and natural gas to coal, nuclear, solar, hydro and more — the United States and the rest of the world would be harsher, less healthy and far less convenient.
America’s oil and natural gas industry has proven that over the long-term it is possible to lead in energy production and safe and environmental stewardship. That’s why they’ve invested approximately $90 billion in zero- and low-emissions technologies between 2000 and 2014. That’s almost as much as the federal government ($110.3 billion) and more than any other industrial sector, including automotive ($38.2 billion), electric utilities ($37.1 billion) and agriculture/food processing ($13 billion).
Access to a secure and abundant energy supply is essential for basic needs, as the International Energy Agency notes:
“Modern energy services are crucial to human well-being and to a country’s economic development. Access to modern energy is essential for the provision of clean water, sanitation and healthcare and for the provision of reliable and efficient lighting, heating, cooking, mechanical power, transport and telecommunications services. It is an alarming fact that today billions of people lack access to the most basic energy services: as World Energy Outlook 2014 shows nearly 1.3 billion people are without access to electricity and 2.7 billion people rely on the traditional use of biomass for cooking, which causes harmful indoor air pollution.”
Energy is a critical part of boosting prosperity and eradicating poverty. Climate policies that make energy more expensive would only serve to keep people poor and leave their environments worse off, and I doubt that’s what the pope or anyone wants.
