Suddenly, oil companies are upbeat again

If you’ve been following climate news, you might feel a bit of vertigo at what I’m about to tell you.

Exactly a week after a major scientific report warned of accelerating climate impacts driven mainly by the combustion of fossil fuels, and 10 days into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the titans of the global oil and gas industry gathered for their annual conference in Houston.

My colleagues are covering it. I asked them yesterday evening what the vibe was.

The war in Ukraine has supercharged the proceedings. Oil and gas producers who are not Russian are, as my colleague David Gelles put it, “suddenly feeling very good about themselves.”

“This war, and the degree to which the world is realizing it’s not so comfortable being reliant on Russia, is a moment of validation that American oil and gas producers have been waiting for,” David said.

For sure, my fellow reporters said, there have been nods to climate change at the conference, known as CERAWeek, including panel discussions on how to meet net-zero pledges and how to capture carbon dioxide emissions from hydrocarbon projects. But if the focus of CERAWeek was once to be on transitioning away from oil and gas, the conference this week focused on ensuring oil and gas supply.

Oil prices are soaring on the global market. President Biden on Tuesday morning banned Russian oil and gas imports. Those who make and ship liquefied natural gas across the ocean are eyeing new opportunity.

Clifford Krauss, who covers the industry for The Times, noticed what he called “the uneasy balancing of energy transition and energy security.”

Truth is, calls to ramp up production may be more rhetorical ploy than reality. There are labor and supply chain constraints, and, anyway, drilling for more oil and gas in the United States now would do nothing to bring down prices in the short term. Growing recognition of climate risks adds more uncertainty for the industry. Because of a recent federal court ruling, new pipelines and gas plants face greater scrutiny for their impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Lisa Friedman, my colleague who wrote about that ruling, was also at CERAWeek in Houston.

“The vibe is, ‘You thought you were done with us, but as recent events have shown, we’re still quite important,’” she observed.

Houston is one of America’s fastest-warming cities. It is also home court for the American oil and gas industry. Inside the Hilton Americas, where the conference is being held, Lisa said she walked past a pavilion that called itself the Invest Saudi Lounge. Attendees could grab a free drink at the Canada Energy House.

“We’re not the villains in this case,” said Tengku Muhammad Taufik, chief executive of Petronas, Malaysia’s state owned oil and gas company during a Monday panel. “We’re part of the solution.”

It went largely unremarked that the International Energy Agency, only last year, warned that, if the world is to reach net-zero emissions by midcentury and avert the worst climate consequences, there can be no new investments in oil, gas or coal.

A new I.E.A. analysis on Wednesday, meanwhile, estimated that global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions had risen by 6 percent in 2021 from the year before, to a record 36.3 billion tonnes, as the world economy recovered from the Covid-19 crisis. The rebound relied heavily on coal, the agency said.

Both Lisa and David were at the United Nations climate negotiations in Glasgow in November, as was I. There came calls to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, in stark contrast to the calls to ramp up the production of fossil fuels here.

John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, made a note of that in his remarks at the conference on Monday morning. “We’re not doing everything we promised and now we have this disruption, this major disruption in the marketplace, that is clearly going to have some impact,” he said.

Leaders of the European Union on Tuesday laid out a proposal to cut its use of Russian gas by two-thirds by the end of this year, by expanding biogas, renewable energy and hydrogen, as well as by installing double the number of heat pumps in European buildings. The E.U. isn’t ditching gas though. It also plans to bring in more liquefied natural gas, which is a boon for gas producers in the United States.

“It’s hard,” said Frans Timmermans, the E.U. vice president in charge of energy, at a news conference, according to Reuters. “Bloody hard. But possible.”

Essential news

Big trouble in the Amazon: Scientists said the region, hard-hit by droughts and logging, is nearing the point where its forests may be replaced by grasslands.

Shell says sorry: The company, sharply criticized for buying Russian crude after the war in Ukraine had begun, apologized and said it would start to cut business ties to Russia.

Playing catch-up: Far behind Asian manufacturers, U.S. automakers and their suppliers are racing to develop a new generation of electric car batteries.

Unlikely allies: The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put advocates for forceful climate action in temporary alignment with foreign policy hawks in Washington.

A formidable environmentalist dies: Maggy Hurchalla tangled with developers and fought to protect the Florida wilderness she loved. She was 81.

Other stuff we’re following

• There are six lifestyle changes that people in wealthy countries could make to help avert climate breakdown, The Guardian reported.

• A French company has a new solution to the plastic problem, The Atlantic wrote.

• Climate Home News spoke to a Ukrainian researcher about what the Russian invasion means for climate scientists.

• An analysis by researchers at the Yale School of the Environment found that spring is starting sooner and growing warmer.

• The Washington Post wrote about coping with climate grief.

• Do birds have language? They might, according to an article in Knowable Magazine.

Before you go:

An architect who builds resilience

The Times spoke to Kotchakorn Voraakhom, a Thai landscape architect whose firm focuses on social and environmental transformation through projects like canal gardens, water-storing parks and rooftop farms. “You need to deal with uncertainty with flexibility, with understanding,” she said of her approach to urban planning. “It’s OK to flood, and it’s OK to be ‘weak.’ That means resilience. With that mind-set, you create designs that talk with nature. That dance with nature. It’s very Buddhist — accepting the world as it is.” You can read the interview here.

Thanks for reading. We’ll be back on Friday.

Claire O’Neill and Douglas Alteen contributed to Climate Forward.

Reach us at climateforward@nytimes.com. We read every message, and reply to many!