BLOG: As the drift towards a divided world continues, here are some climate change realities

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Click here to see the latest blog post on Asian Chemical Connections by John Richardson.

The world continues to split int two. As the listed International Oil Companies sell assets, they are being acquired by the state-owned giants – the National Oil Companies (NOCs).

But the NOCs are only doing what they have to do to support economies where the No1 assets are hydrocarbons.

And the demand for transportation fuels and petrochemicals in the developing world must be met if the war on poverty is to continue. It will be impossible to make the volumes needed without substantial use of oil and gas.

As for sustainably in developing countries, a sense of perspective is needed – provided by the picture in today’s blog post. You can hardly expect Africa to focus on installing electric-vehicle charging stations when many African countries do not even have decent enough roads. And, anyway, many people in Africa have yet to be able to afford any kind of motor vehicle.

The solution is a global carbon tax that would impose the financial penalties forcing innovation in managing carbon emissions.

The same tax would provide funds for developing new carbon management technologies – and perhaps even the money to fix roads in Africa so countries have the economic breathing space to focus on sustainability.

But does the political and corporate will to make this happen exist? Very sadly, not right now.

Editor’s note: This blog post is an opinion piece. The views expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent those of ICIS.