Can’t Touch This: To Stave Off Climate Disaster, Arctic Oil Must Stay in Ground
‘There is no reasonable scenario in which Arctic oil drilling and a safe climate future co-exist,’ says Oil Change International in new report
U.S. Arctic oil will be exposed to increasing risks associated with mounting public opposition, marked by creative direct actions like this flotilla, says the report from Oil Change International and Greenpeace. (Photo: Backbone Campaign/flickr/cc)
Just days after Royal Dutch Shell commenced drilling at the bottom of the Chukchi Sea, two major environmental groups released a new report confirming what many activists and scientists have already warned—to avert the looming climate crisis, U.S. Arctic offshore oil should be considered “untouchable.”
“There is no reasonable scenario in which Arctic oil drilling and a safe climate future co-exist,” said report author Hannah McKinnon, senior campaigner with Oil Change International (OCI), which issued the study along with Greenpeace. “Drilling in the Arctic is a climate disaster, plain and simple.”
“The President can’t continue to leave the the fate of the Arctic—and his climate legacy—up to a disastrous corporation like Shell.”
—Tim Donaghy, Greenpeace
Untouchable: The Climate Case Against Drilling (pdf) reiterates the warning that, according to the best available science, at least three-quarters of existing fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground in order to limit global warming to 2° Celsius. “Projects that expand or break open new reserves and generate more greenhouse gas emissions clearly fail a test of what is safe for the global climate,” the report states.
Shell Oil’s mishap-plagued hunt for oil in the Arctic is a prime example of such a project, the authors charge, given that “the only scenarios published in defense of Arctic oil exploration are consistent with at least 5 degrees Celsius of global warming—a level widely considered to be disastrous.”
Not only is Arctic drilling bad for frontline communities and the environment, it’s expensive, with Shell depending on sustained high oil prices if it wants to make a profit, the report explains. And from an investor perspective, U.S. Arctic oil is an asset that has a high risk of becoming stranded as billions are poured into exploration for a resource that experts say ultimately cannot be burned safely.
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