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Energy: Paying Its Full Cost, Belatedly or Upon Use?

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The Fossil-Fuelled Climate Crisis

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Abstract

Externalities occur if part of the cost of energy is not included in its price. Fossil fuels are causing costly global warming and drought, wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and eventually sea level rise. These are not included in their price and are paid belatedly by victims. Wind and solar energy have few externalized costs. This chapter examines how the full cost of fossil fuels is left unpaid upon purchase resulting in a growing environmental debt, in victims subsidizing users, therefore in carbon-polluting energy being cheaper than low-carbon energy. It investigates resistance to full-cost pricing of fossil fuels upon use, and how fossil fuels left in the underground commons are viewed as stranded assets rather than as hazards stored safely. It also shows how construction of new fossil-fuelled practices generates fossil-fuel use.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Raymond Murphy

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Correspondence to Raymond Murphy .

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Murphy, R. (2021). Energy: Paying Its Full Cost, Belatedly or Upon Use?. In: The Fossil-Fuelled Climate Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53325-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53325-0_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-53324-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-53325-0

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