Three Ways Environmentally Conscious Countries Can Conquer The Fossil Fuel Industry

It's time we started discussing about the principal rival to process on climate change: fossil fuel industries. If history has taught us anything, it's that when oil, gas, and coal industries oppose policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, those policies fail. And make no error, they do argue in force. Revelations this year that mining giant Glencore spent millions of dollars globally to bankroll a pro-coal campaign are just the latest example.
After all, the U.S. is now the largest producer of oil and gas, with the largest reserves of coal on the planet, and it is the home of companies such as ExxonMobil that have known about climate change for 40 years and have been denying its existence for almost as long. To get to know the way they work, I spent countless hours in the offices of major coal corporations and their lobbyists. I also met with executives from oil and gas corporations in Houston, and their lobbyists in Washington D.C.
Small renewable startups and billion-dollar companies running endless battles to preserve tax subsidies for wind and solar, which they claimed is only fair given the subsidies to fossil fuels.
So what are the lessons for policymakers seeking to advance a clean energy transition? Three stand out.
Support clean energy industries
First, governments need to entrench and build existing interests in support of clean energy. Targeted policies, such as subsidies to the solar industry or tax rebates to households for solar power, both boost the industry and build a specific political constituency in support of solar power.
For example, US investment tax credits for solar power helped drive a boom in recent years, growing into an industry measured in the billions of dollars. As industry revenues have increased, so has the industry’s power to defend the investment tax credit and oppose fossil fuel companies.
Split fossil fuel industries
Second, policymakers should seek to exploit divisions within and between fossil fuel industries. When incumbent industries are divided or politically weak, green coalitions are easier to build.
For example, if the aim is to regulate coal, policies are more likely to succeed if they exploit the natural divisions between coal mining companies and the electric utilities that burn it to generate electricity.
In this case, the best bet is to target politically weak industries less able to mount a resistance campaign.
Indeed, the Solar Energy Industries Association in the U.S. is now a vocal advocate for clean energy in Washington, just as the Solar Council is here in Australia. Both groups have helped offset the tide of fossil fuel lobbying that regularly washes against the shores of government.

By – Abhishek Singh
Content - https://www.popsci.com/fight-fossil-fuel-companies-lobbies/