It's worth repeating in this summer when the effects of the climate crisis feel like they're intensifying, with wildfires in California, a drought in the American West and an intense heat wave in Europe.
Looking for more oil in Africa. Rather than cut down on oil production, the world seems to be going in the opposite direction. As The New York Times reported on Sunday, the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to rainforests and peatlands that help control climate change, is now trying to market itself as a new destination for oil investments by auctioning land for drilling.
A fairer share. Namibia, Botswana and Congo rightly want to reap the same benefits from their land that Western countries used to become wealthy.
"Someone who is sitting in Norway and has a very good quality of life because of the oil that was found in the North Sea is now telling the world that it should run on renewables," Niall Kramer, a South African oil industry consultant and former oil executive, said in CNN's report last year. "If you are sitting in Africa, your incentives are very different."
The Times identifies a similar sentiment in Congo: The auction highlights a double standard that many political leaders across the African continent have called out: How can Western countries, which built their prosperity on fossil fuels that emit poisonous, planet-warming fumes, demand that Africa forgo their reserves of coal, oil and gas in order to protect everyone else?
Congo's top climate official, Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, told the Times the country is focused on bringing Congolese out of poverty.
"Our priority is not to save the planet," he said. He wants Congo to be compensated, either by more developed countries for protecting its rainforests and peatland, or by oil companies.
Still hooked. That the world's oil addiction is far from over is frustratingly clear.
Demand for oil is continuing to increase, not decrease, as countries emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Interruptions to Russia's supply of oil and gas to Europe -- likely as a form of retaliation for sanctions on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine -- could realistically drive Germany into its own recession.
As for Biden, his political future is still very much tied to people's perception of the economy, which in turn is tied partially to gas prices.
Lower gas prices hailed as good news. That gas prices, while still high, have been dropping is a fact the White House has clung to as it's argued the economy is better than people think
The administration has pushed US oil companies and foreign countries to ramp up production, and it is fighting environmental groups to lease new lands for oil and gas development in the Gulf of Mexico and Wyoming.
The bad news about Biden's climate agenda. It's stuck in Congress, where West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin argues Americans can't afford more spending -- at least not right now -- to transition the country away from an oil-based economy. Manchin disregards the cost of doing nothing.