Green energy costs jobs

Imposing fees on fossil fuel industries, as Citizens Climate Lobby proposes, will harm the poor disproportionately, as those industries pass their added costs on to the consumer. Moreover, the cost of renewable energy puts it out of reach for the poor. What is missing from CCL’s jeremiad against fossil fuels is the fact that cheap reliable fossil fuel energy has been the main driver of wealth production and reduction in overall poverty in western economies. Want to see real poverty? Look at the third world, where fossil fuel energy is unavailable for most.

In Germany, where the use of renewable energy is mandated, CO2 emissions in 2014 declined for the first time in several years; the use of coal, meanwhile, has increased due to the unreliability of renewables. With erratic energy availability, high unemployment remains a chronic problem.

Without any of the government coercion favored by CCL, CO2 emissions in the US are at a 25-year low due to a market-driven replacement of coal with natural gas. A radical pivot away from hydrocarbons to green energy may create some new jobs but at a cost of far more jobs as the economy tanks due to inefficient energy production.

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 6:24 AM with the headline "Green energy costs jobs."