Growing concerns over the consequences of climate change may severely limit
future access to fossil fuels. A forced choice between energy and environment
could precipitate a major economic crisis, an environmental crisis, or both.
Averting such a crisis will be difficult, because fossil energy resources are an
essential part of the world’s energy supply and climate change is mainly driven
by the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is
the unavoidable product of fossil fuel consumption. Therefore, the use of fossil
fuels collides directly with global environmental concerns. Unfortunately, fossil
fuels are difficult to replace, but stabilising the atmospheric concentration of
carbon dioxide requires a nearly complete transition to a carbon-neutral
economy. This implies either the abandonment of fossil fuels or the introduction
of carbon capture and storage, whereby for every ton of carbon extracted
from the ground another ton of carbon is put back.