<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/08/oil-industry-has-sought-to-block-state-backing-for-green-tech-since-1960s>
"The oil industry has fought against government support for clean technologies
for more than half a century, the
Guardian can reveal, even as vast subsidies
have propped up its polluting business model.
It lobbied lawmakers to block support for low-carbon technologies such as solar
panels, electric cars and heat pumps as far back as the 1960s, analysis shows.
Trade associations in the US and Europe stymied green innovations under the
guise of supporting a “technology neutral” approach to avoiding the damage done
by burning their fuels.
The same incumbents were happy to lobby for government support when they were
getting started, and had continued to benefit from it since, said Dario Kenner,
a visiting research fellow at the University of Sussex who trawled through
decades of public statements from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and
FuelsEurope.
“It’s obviously hypocritical to call for technological neutrality when you are
the dominant technology,” he said.
Kenner documented dozens of examples of the oil industry pressuring governments
to hold back support for renewable energy, restrict funding for the development
of clean technologies and weaken environmental rules that favoured their
uptake."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
