Opinion: You Can’t Reach Net Zero Without Us

Former Vice President Al Gore—who has earned his reputation as a climate catastrophist through his film work and TED Talks—recently took me by surprise when he said we know how to fix climate change and the extreme weather events we’re experiencing this summer.

He’s almost right. We know we can fix this. Where the agreement often frays is in the details of how we reduce carbon emissions to zero. Gore wants you to believe that eliminating fossil fuels is the answer. The reality, which is becoming more widely accepted, is that we need fossil fuels for energy reliability and security, at least for the foreseeable future. As part of the energy transformation, many oil and gas companies are already investing billions to transition to cleaner fuels made from cooking and agricultural waste products.

Let’s not wreak havoc on humankind by resisting beneficial energy resources that are affordable, abundant, BTU-rich, and portable. When people are pushed, quite literally, into the cold or left to bake in the heat due to government-imposed restrictions, they will actively resist.

Climate Week, the annual climate event in New York City, is set for mid-September, and I will be there meeting with other energy leaders and representing the propane industry. I don’t expect to meet Mr. Gore, but I do hope to speak with as many people as I can to understand their approaches to the challenges we face, while also sharing the exciting progress we are making with the development of renewable propane. I believe we can eliminate carbon emissions by harnessing the power of a thousand different ideas, without placing undue hardship on the communities we serve.

There is no perfect solution on this path to net zero, and it shouldn’t matter how large or small the solution is. What matters is that we are taking incremental steps to reduce our carbon footprint. We will achieve our climate goals when we stop marginalizing certain industries and begin accepting a wider path to decarbonization.

Energy-dense liquid fuels like renewable propane have an important role to play in the energy transformation, especially in transportation, shipping, and power generation. In their renewable forms, these fuels release few or no emissions, and even conventional liquid fuels are significantly cleaner than diesel. Replacing diesel is more than an incremental change—it significantly reduces air pollution.

I’m concerned about the environmental and human damage lithium batteries cause—from mining and transport to disposal—but I support electrification as a part of the solution. I also support more responsibly sited solar and wind projects to help the grid shift to cleaner energy resources.

Carbon capture is frowned upon by some for the seemingly marginal difference it can make in reducing CO2 emissions. Not by me. If it helps, it’s welcome. Likewise, hydrogen, both manufactured and geologic, and small modular nuclear reactors should all play a role in the energy transformation. Each solution comes with its own set of challenges, but they also help us draw down carbon emissions, so they ought to be part of the solution.

The big question I’ll be asking at Climate Week is whether there is room in the conversation for practical solutions. My fear is that we have lost our ability to take on hard questions and cultivate small but important gains as we go. The quest for a silver bullet—one answer that solves everything—is impeding real progress. I hope to find reasonable voices ready to work together to set a pragmatic course for change.

-Tucker Perkins, President & CEO, Propane Education & Research Council