API President Questions Speed of U.S. Energy Transition

Jan. 14, 2021
API President John Sommers called climate change “the most important issue of our time,” but criticized the brevity of the government’s efforts.

Jan. 14, 2021— John Sommers, the president of the American Petroleum Institute, criticized the U.S. government’s rapid efforts to move away from fossil fuels in a speech Wednesday. 

Sommers sighted California’s plan to eliminate internal combustion engines (ICE) by 2035 as an example of an “extreme proposal” that would “increase electricity demand, adding to the state’s ongoing power crisis.” 

Sommers called climate change “the most important issue of our time,” but criticized the brevity of the government’s efforts, according to a transcript of the speech. 

"Bottom line, California is trying to force an energy change that it simply isn’t ready for and technology doesn’t exist to support," Sommers said at API’s annual State of American Energy event. "No one should be surprised when reality keeps interfering. The constant impulse to mandate and make headlines never quits easy and never ends well."

Industries across the globe are shifting to less carbon intensive options as they grapple with the effects of climate change. California’s plan to eliminate ICE’s in favor of electric models follows a similar path that countries throughout the world are taking that pose a major threat to the oil industry.