Economist GMAT Reading Comprehension Challenge #18
For instructions on how to use these articles: Economist articles to improve GMAT verbal
Article: The truth about big oil and climate change
Link: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/02/09/the-truth-about-big-oil-and-climate-change
In America, the world’s largest economy…America’s highways with electric cars.
With climate change hard to ignore, America, the worlds second biggest polluter, is embracing green ideas.
Yet amid the clamor is a single…the climate could be disastrous.
Even though green ideas are being embraced, demand for oil is still rising and the energy industry plans to satisfy it triggering potentially disastrous consequences for the climate.
ExxonMobil shows…bloated role for the state.
Government intervention is needed to solve climate change.
For much of the 20th century…four are majors.
The major oil companies have considerable influence.
In 2000 BP promised to go…not what they say.
On the face of it the majors have endorsed renewables but largely remain dedicated to fossil fuels.
According to ExxonMobil…1.5°C above its pre-industrial level.
Although production needs to fall considerably in order to prevent potential climate catastrophe, with demand rising, all of the majors are expected to expand output.
It would be wrong to conclude…shareholders can enforce.
Energy firms aren’t evil just profit driven.
Some hope that the oil companies…combustion engines in 2030.
It is unlikely that oil companies will gradually head in a new direction or that brilliant innovations will save the day.
So, too, the boom in ethical investing….investors remain modest.
There has been a boom in ethical investing, which can put pressure on polluters, but oil companies’ recent commitments to green investors remain modest.
And do not expect much…diplomacy, not judges.
Some hope for legal action against oil companies but that looks unlikely.
The next 15…the partisan divide.
The next 15 years will be critical for climate change so it’s not a moment to soon that climate change seems to be capable of winning bipartisan support even in the shadow of the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement and attempt to resurrect the coal industry.
The key will be…including, even, ExxonMobil.
Unlike the Democrat’s Green New Deal, a successful green policy must be practical and not cause too much financial hardship to centrist voters and is best exemplified in a carbon tax.
Primary Purpose
To discuss a potential increase in climate threatening fossil fuel production and the best way to slow climate change.
Main Idea
A political solution that is practical and will not cause excessive hardship on centrist voters is needed to curb climate change and a tax on carbon is the best option that meets these criteria.