What are the real costs of going green, and who is going to pay the bill? In Part A of our episode on the cost of going green, we bring expert guest Brad Handler onto the show. Brad is Program Manager for the Sustainable Finance Lab at the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines, and a former Wall Street Equity Research Analyst with 20 years of experience covering the oil sector. He breaks down why we are still investing so much in fossil fuels, the investments that might be needed to support the growth of renewable energy, and how we might redirect investments towards developing countries that will play a large role in the energy transition. We also dive into why oil companies have been so profitable, whether divesting from fossil fuels is a good idea, and the role that Wall Street and the fossil fuel industry might play in the energy transition.

01:21 Interview with Brad Handler
56:00 Concluding Remarks

Stay tuned for Part B next week, where we chat with a panel of mineral economics students from Ghana at the Colorado School of Mines, who help us better understand the challenges of sustainable development from a sub-Saharan Africa perspective.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you can automatically get access to our new episodes – you can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Also, please leave a rating and review and let us know what you thought of this episode! Special thanks to our guests for today and Abhi, our technical guru, for their important contributions to today’s episode. This podcast is sponsored by the USC Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition.

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Energy Transition Talk series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET) or the producers of this podcast.

Referenced in this episode and additional resources:

IMF, Aug. 24, 2023, Fossil Fuel Subsidies Surged to Record $7 Trillion 

UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), July 5, 2023, UNCTAD calls for urgent support to developing countries to attract massive investment in clean energy 

Reuters, Jan. 31, 2023, Exxon smashes Western oil majors' profits with $56 billion in 2022 

IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency), Aug. 29, 2023, Renewables Competitiveness Accelerates, Despite Cost Inflation

ExxonMobil, Oct. 11, 2023, ExxonMobil announces merger with Pioneer Natural Resources in an all-stock transaction 

ExxonMobil, Jan. 18, 2022, ExxonMobil announces ambition for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 
Shell net zero commitments