Over 50 nations are gathering in Colombia to map out a future without oil, gas, and coal, all while the world is in the middle of an energy crisis driven by war, supply disruptions, and rising demand that cannot even be met today. The same governments pretending they can eliminate fossil fuels are quietly scrambling behind the curtain to secure more of them just to keep the lights on.
This is what happens when policy is driven by ideology instead of reality. I have warned repeatedly that there is no viable alternative capable of replacing fossil fuels at scale. This is not an opinion. It is a simple matter of physics and infrastructure. Wind and solar cannot provide baseload power. They are intermittent, unreliable, and require storage systems that do not exist at the level needed to sustain a modern industrial economy. Yet politicians stand up and pretend we can simply flip a switch and transition the entire world economy to renewables as if energy were some optional luxury.
What makes this entire agenda even more dangerous is that they are no longer speaking in vague terms, they are openly stating the objective. Ursula von der Leyen declared that “the global fossil fuel crisis must be a game-changer… let’s earn the clean ticket to heaven,” which is not economic policy, it is ideological rhetoric detached from reality. John Kerry has pushed that leaders must accelerate the “transition away from fossil fuels” or face catastrophe, while Ed Miliband continues to insist Net Zero is essential to eliminate dependence on traditional energy altogether. Then you have Ro Khanna advocating ending fossil fuel subsidies and halting new permits, which in practical terms means cutting supply before any viable replacement exists.
Yet even within their own ranks the cracks are showing. Tony Blair bluntly admitted that any strategy centered on phasing out fossil fuels in the near term is “doomed to fail.” They are publicly advancing an agenda that even insiders know cannot function in the real world.
What they refuse to admit is that every single modern economy depends on fossil fuels at its core. Transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, heating, electricity, all of it. You cannot remove that foundation without collapsing the structure built on top of it. Even now, as they hold conferences and make declarations, countries are reverting to coal because when crisis strikes, theory disappears and survival takes over. That is the reality they will never say out loud.
Europe has already demonstrated the consequences of this madness. They went all in on Net Zero policies, deliberately restricting access to cheap and reliable energy, and now they are paying the price. Energy costs have soared, industry is fleeing, and economic growth has stagnated. Germany, once the industrial engine of Europe, has been undermined by its own energy policy. When you destroy your energy base, you destroy your economy. It is that simple. There is no way around it, no matter how many conferences they hold or agreements they sign.
The hypocrisy here is staggering. While they talk about eliminating fossil fuels, governments are simultaneously securing long-term oil and gas contracts. They are reopening coal plants. They are subsidizing energy just to prevent social unrest. They are saying one thing publicly while doing the exact opposite behind the curtain because they know the truth.
Energy is not something you experiment with at the expense of stability. When you artificially constrain energy supply, you drive up costs across the board. That feeds directly into inflation, reduces competitiveness, and ultimately forces capital to flee to regions where energy remains accessible and affordable. This is precisely why capital has been moving out of Europe. The policies are driving it away.
Governments are not preparing for a world without fossil fuels. They are preparing for conflict over the very resources they claim they want to eliminate. What they are proposing is not just unrealistic, it is dangerous. You cannot dismantle the global energy system and expect the economy to function. The attempt to force this transition prematurely is accelerating the very crisis they claim to be solving.