Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Investing

Electric Vehicles, Labor Unions, and Climate Hypocrisy

by March 22, 2024
March 22, 2024
Electric Vehicles, Labor Unions, and Climate Hypocrisy

David Kemp

A Washington Post article this week observes that oil industry executives celebrated huge profits in the wake of an international agreement to transition away from fossil fuels to reach net‐​zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) held in Dubai at the end of last year, nations agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels.” The Post notes that, “three months later, it appears that some of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies did not get the memo. At an energy conference [in Houston] their leaders struck a much different tone, predicting that fossil fuels will continue to power the global economy well into the future.”

The article goes on to quote oil industry leaders who praised the Dubai agreement but still predict that oil and gas will play an important role in any energy transition and notes that US oil production is hitting record highs while global oil demand continues to increase.

Meanwhile, on the same day the Washington Post also reported that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule setting limits on greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles. The rules are the most stringent tailpipe emissions standards ever set, but are less stringent than initially proposed last year. The EPA estimated that the original rule would require 67 percent of new vehicles to be electric vehicles (EVs) by 2032, compared to only 5.8 percent in 2022.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) opposed the rule. A shift to EVs was one of the UAW’s complaints during their strike last year. As the Post reported, “The union has been wary of EVs because they generally require fewer workers to assemble than gasoline‐​powered vehicles, and because many EV plants are being built in Southern states less friendly to unions.” The UAW actually withheld their endorsement of President Biden over their worries about the EPA’s proposed rule. So the EPA decided to slow down the reduction in emissions and therefore the adoption of EVs.

Delaying the requirements is a marginally positive result. The goals of the tailpipe rule are overly ambitious and the cost‐​benefit analysis likely overstates the benefits.

But the juxtaposition of the two articles still highlights the hypocrisy of environmental advocates and politicians. Both the goals of transitioning away from fossil fuels by 2050 and increasing EV usage are potential examples of what Peter Van Doren notes is a consistent feature of environmental legislation and regulations: “policy beyond capability.” As he described in a blog post about the original version of the tailpipe emissions regulations,

The history of environmental regulation consists of ambitious unrealistic goals followed by missed deadlines and lack of enforcement. The most ambitious unrealistic goal was the California legislative proposal in 1970 to ban the internal combustion engine by 1975. The California State Senate approved the bill while floor consideration in the Assembly failed by one vote. The 1970 national Clean Air Act required ambient air quality standards be achieved by 1975. The deadlines were extended many times. By 2005, of the 338 deadlines set by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 only 37 had been met by the deadline specified in the statute.

These two cases also show how unrealistic policies are not applied consistently. Concessions to labor unions over electric vehicles are considered an acceptable political sacrifice, even though President Biden characterized the “climate crisis” as an “existential threat” in his recent State of the Union address, whereas the oil industry’s assertion that fossil fuels will remain important in the future and continuing high profits are seen as undermining the COP28 goal of achieving net‐​zero by phasing out fossil fuels.

Whether climate change is a catastrophe or, more realistically, a potential problem that requires a rational and sober response, policies to reduce emissions should be realistic and applied uniformly. When concessions are given to one party’s constituents, other groups, such as oil companies, workers in oil and gas fields, and consumers worried about high prices on their favorite cars, will wonder where their concessions are.

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
Call for Proposals: Junior Scholars Symposium 2024
next post
The Stock Market This Week: What This Surging Bull Means

You may also like

Latest Attempt to Restore Financial Privacy: the Saving...

September 25, 2024

Pharmaceutical Pricing Around the World

September 27, 2024

Domestic Benefits from Foreign Tax Havens

May 31, 2023

Why School Choice?

January 28, 2025

Trump Is Right: End FEMA

January 28, 2025

How the Trump Administration Can Obstruct Future Government...

January 27, 2025

The Proper Way to End the GSE Experiment

December 9, 2024

Getting Taiwan’s Self-Defense Right, Right Now

November 14, 2023

Do New Tariff Cut Offers Validate Trump’s Approach...

April 1, 2025

“Our Allies Then Bent Over Backwards to Help...

March 11, 2024

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Musk jokes about reconsidering stance on Big Beautiful Bill after Schiff’s praise

      June 7, 2025
    • Musk deletes explosive posts about Trump and Epstein files

      June 7, 2025
    • House witness flips script on Dem who ambushed him during hearing with unearthed tweet: ‘Iceberg is ahead’

      June 7, 2025
    • Call with China’s Xi, and Trump-Musk exchange fueled barbs during 20th week in office

      June 7, 2025
    • Trump’s conservative allies warn Congress faces critical ‘test’ with $9.4B spending cut proposal

      June 7, 2025
    • Tech ETFs are Leading Since April, but Another Group is Leading YTD

      June 7, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,152)
    • Investing (2,019)
    • Politics (15,567)
    • Stocks (3,136)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved