Fossil-fuel industry

Recognition of the climate crisis, pollution and other negative effects caused by fossil fuels has led to a widespread policy transition and activist movement focused on ending their use in favor of renewable and sustainable energy. Because the fossil-fuel industry is so heavily integrated in the global economy and heavily subsidized, this transition is expected to have significant economic consequences. Many stakeholders argue that this change needs to be a just transition and create policy that addresses the societal burdens created by the stranded assets of the fossil fuel industry. International policy, in the form of United Nations' sustainable development goals for affordable and clean energy and climate action, as well as the Paris Climate Agreement, is designed to facilitate this transition at a global level. In 2021, the International Energy Agency concluded that no new fossil fuel extraction projects could be opened if the global economy and society wants to avoid the worst effects of climate change and meet international goals for climate change mitigation.