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The 1970s oil disaster, and the way the international locations impacted by it responded, has a number of classes for contemporary international locations trying to transition to renewables, based on the authors of a brand new paper. In 1973, the Arab international locations within the Group of Petroleum Exporting International locations (OPEC), stopped exporting oil to nations that supported Israel within the Yom Kippur Conflict. The outcomes noticed oil shortages and costs in many countries—together with elements of Europe, the USA, and Canada—skyrocket. In response, some started shifting towards renewables.
Nevertheless, there is a political value to be paid for adopting insurance policies that transition away from fossil fuels. These insurance policies will be pricey within the quick time period, prompting companies and customers to push again on them. Some nations—typically in Europe—had advantageous political options or adopted techniques that softened the political blow, permitting them to transfer ahead with these efforts. Others, such because the US and Canada, floundered. New analysis checked out OECD nations’ responses to the oil disaster and dug into the political the reason why these responses differed.
“We’re… enthusiastic about making an attempt to grasp when a rustic’s policymakers are capable of overcome opposition to [these] pricey insurance policies for companies and households,” Jonas Meckling, an affiliate professor of vitality and environmental coverage on the College of California, Berkeley, and an writer of the paper, instructed Ars.
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