14 DAY TRIAL // As the fact that fossil fuels are destroying the planet becomes more and more obvious to many actors, corporations and states alike, many argue that green energy is the way out. But some caution that the efforts to rid the world of pollution and its intensive, carbon-based economy may be highjacked by international oil companies (IOC), the same that have been controlling the market since the beginning of the 19th century. The financial and industrial giants have it within their power to stop the emergence of democratic, distributed and green economics, and it is therefore the job of authorities to set in place measures to ensure that this doesn't happen as soon as possible.
“A palpable lesson is that if oil companies enter the renewable industry, the latter could potentially be transformed along a hierarchical and centralized structure, which contravenes the widely dispersed and readily available nature of renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar. [The time to] map a democratic and equitable transition” that would avoid that is now, expert Jack Reardon, from the St. Paul, Minnesota-based Hamline University's Department of Management & Economics, says. He is the author of a new study on the matter, which appears in a recent issue of the respected International Journal of Green Economics.
It is widely believed that, if the current economic growth trend continues, then the world could see a 45-percent increase in energy demands by 2030. This naturally means that carbon-dioxide emissions will also increase by 45 percent in the same time frame, which would spell catastrophe for the entire world. At the forefront of this growth analysts expect to see countries such as China, India, Brazil, and the United States, the most polluting nations on the planet. “Arresting this unsustainable and potentially catastrophic increase is a central focus of green economics,” Reardon explains.
He adds that, if private oil companies enter this market, then they could have the ability to prevent the democratic, distributed and green economics that would ensue if sufficient funding was alloted to research in efficiently harnessing wind, solar, and other renewable resources. These conclusions are based on an analysis of the monopolistic and powerful positions that these companies have taken in the world since the advent of the industrialized age. Since, these giants have used lobby groups, and many other means, to get their point across, and have managed to infiltrate people to sustain their agendas in many governments around the world.