{"id":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issue/fossil-fuels","schemaVersion":2,"name":"Fossil Fuels","category":"Energy","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issue/fossil-fuels","json":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issue/fossil-fuels.json","ask":"","position":"Humanity faces a difficult challenge. To stabilize increasing global temperatures from climate change, the world must eventually phase out fossil fuels; but in the meantime, gas and oil remain key to human development, universal energy access, and climate resilience. In developed economies, natural gas remains a fundamental bridge between coal and clean energy sources like nuclear, geothermal, or renewables. Developing economies need a backbone of flexible generation to support clean energy deployment and fossil inputs for crucial industries like fertilizers, cement, and steel. Barring fossil fuels development in poorer countries consigns their populations to continued poverty and hunger.","faq":[{"question":"When will fossil fuels run out?","answer":"Not anytime soon. Coal, oil, and natural gas remain abundant, and new technologies can make additional resources economical to extract. The challenge is not waiting for fossil fuels to run out, but developing cleaner substitutes that can outperform them."},{"question":"Why are fossil fuels bad for the environment?","answer":"Fossil fuels have powered enormous improvements in living standards and remain essential to modern economies. But burning them releases carbon dioxide that drives climate change, as well as pollutants like particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury that harm human health."},{"question":"Should fossil fuels be banned?","answer":"No. Fossil fuels remain essential to modern economies and global development, and abruptly banning them would collapse global agriculture, trade, manufacturing, and electricity production—making a ban functionally impossible."},{"question":"Do fossil fuels still supply most of the world's energy?","answer":"Yes. Fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas—still supply over 80 percent of the world’s total primary energy and around 68% of final energy. That includes energy used for transportation, heating, industry, and electricity generation, not just electricity."}],"experts":[{"name":"Alex Trembath","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/people/alex-trembath"},{"name":"Seaver Wang","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/people/seaver-wang"},{"name":"Vijaya Ramachandran","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/people/vijaya-ramachandran"}],"startHere":[{"title":"Where the Shale Gas Revolution Came From","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/where-the-shale-gas-revolution-came-from","date":"2012-05-23"},{"title":"How Fossil Fuels Saved the Whales, Twice","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/how-fossil-fuels-saved-the-whales-twice","date":"2025-02-28"},{"title":"Coal Killer","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/articles/coal-killer","date":"2013-06-25"}],"latest":[{"title":"Caught Between Hormuz and a (Chinese) Hard Place","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/caught-between-hormuz-and-a-chinese-hard-place","date":"2026-06-03","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"Greenwashing With Chinese Characteristics","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/greenwashing-with-chinese-characteristics","date":"2025-12-12","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"It’s Time to Raise the Bar for Corporate Clean Energy Buying","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/its-time-to-raise-the-bar-for-corporate-clean-energy-buying","date":"2025-10-08","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"Quiet Climate Policy Is Dead. Long Live All-of-the-Above Energy Policy.","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/quiet-climate-policy-is-dead-long-live-all-of-the-above-energy-policy","date":"2025-09-19","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"How California Regulated Itself Into an Energy Crisis","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/how-california-regulated-itself-into-an-energy-crisis","date":"2025-06-11","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"Sub-Saharan Africa Needs Fossil Fuels to Process Its Critical Minerals","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/sub-saharan-africa-needs-fossil-fuels-to-process-its-critical-minerals","date":"2025-06-04","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"How Fossil Fuels Saved the Whales, Twice","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/how-fossil-fuels-saved-the-whales-twice","date":"2025-02-28","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"Has There Really Never Been An Energy Transition?","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/has-there-really-never-been-an-energy-transition","date":"2024-12-17","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"Clean Energy May be Growing, But It’s Not Replacing Dirty Energy","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/clean-energy-may-be-growing-but-its-not-replacing-dirty-energy","date":"2024-08-02","type":"Analysis"},{"title":"A Major Paper on Liquified Natural Gas Emissions Is Riddled with Errors","url":"https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/a-major-paper-on-liquified-natural-gas-emissions-is-riddled-with-errors","date":"2024-07-30","type":"Analysis"}],"policyHub":"https://thebreakthrough.org/policy?area=energy","policyAreas":[],"policyRecords":[],"dateModified":"2026-11-12T08:26:14-08:00"}