Oil and gas dominate as environmental villains, but renewable energy’s reliance on their production demands a broader conversation.
While transitioning to a fully renewable economy is essential for addressing climate change, Canadians can’t overlook the critical role oil and gas play in supporting renewable technologies. This oversight stems from a lack of familiarity with the oil and gas industry’s inner workings, leading to misguided assumptions about its role in energy transitions.
Understanding meaningful progress in the renewable energy transition requires informed, realistic conversations about reducing dependency on fossil fuels, while acknowledging their ongoing contributions to the production of sustainable energy infrastructure.
As a native Calgarian, I’ve witnessed the energy sector’s inner workings first-hand. Alberta’s oil and gas industry has sustained my livelihood, and with it comes a common stereotype I’ve observed since moving to Ontario for university: that I must be a diehard conservative, anti-climate change and a “renewable energy hater.”
This assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. Humanity’s future hinges on transitioning to sustainable energy practices, which include reducing our reliance on oil and gas. However, this isn’t a change that can happen overnight.
Calls to immediately halt all Canadian oil and gas projects often stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of the industry’s role — not only in our economy but in renewable energy itself.
Petrochemicals derived from oil and gas are essential to producing renewable technologies. Solar panels rely on ethylene-based copolymer for their construction; wind turbines use unsaturated polyester resins derived from the same petrochemical base; and electric vehicles, including Tesla’s Model S, incorporate petroleum-based materials such as carbon fibre, silicon and plastics in their design.
Beyond energy and transportation, oil and gas are integral to producing countless products we rely on daily — clothing, sports equipment, health-care supplies, personal care items and more.
While I fully support reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change, it’s frustrating when discussions around sustainability devolve into calls to “eliminate” the oil and gas industry outright. Idealism is important but it must be tempered by realism. Renewable energy sources aren’t yet capable of existing independently from the oil and gas sector due to the absence of economically viable, market-ready alternatives for producing key chemicals.
Realistically, the path to a sustainable world will require thoughtful transitions rather than abrupt eliminations. Instead of focusing solely on emissions from gas-fuelled cars or celebrating the lower operational emissions of electric vehicles, we need to discuss the petroleum-dependent processes that make these technologies possible — and innovate ways to produce these materials without fossil fuels.
Reducing oil and gas to simply “bad” oversimplifies a complex reality and ignores the nuanced role these industries play in renewable energy systems. While their negative environmental impact shouldn’t be understated, oil and gas are integral to modern life, supporting not just energy needs but also the production of essential materials.
Instead of vilifying the sector, we should focus on finding balanced, sustainable pathways to transition away from dependency while leveraging its contributions to a cleaner energy future.
I’m not an oil enthusiast or a fossil fuel loyalist. I believe meaningful climate action requires informed, educated conversations about the logistics of transitioning to renewable sources.
I can’t tell what the future of oil and gas will look like — but I do know progress starts with acknowledging the complexities and working collaboratively toward solutions.
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