--- title: "As Climate Doom Looms, We’re Drilling For More Fossil Fuels Than Ever Before" description: "A new UN report has found that despite climate promises, the world's top oil producers are on track to drill for more fossil fuels than ever." date: "2023-11-09" modified: "2023-11-09" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/fossil-fuel-production-doubling" categories: - "Energy" - "Fossil Fuels" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "climate change" - "Fossil Fuels" - "the digest" - "united nations" --- # As Climate Doom Looms, We’re Drilling For More Fossil Fuels Than Ever Before ![A new UN report has found that despite climate promises, the world's top oil producers are on track to drill for more fossil fuels than ever.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Drill, Baby, Drill A new United Nations report has found that despite promises to cut back, the world's top oil producers are on track to drill for more fossil fuels than ever before. Fittingly titled the "[Production Gap Report]()," this new UN climate report calls out the continued — and hypocritical — push to drill for fossil fuels by countries including the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia, despite public promises to the contrary. "Governments are literally doubling down on fossil fuel production; that spells double trouble for people and planet," UN secretary-general António Guterres said in a [press release announcing the report](). For a long time now, [it has been abundantly clear]() that new fossil fuel drilling is antithetical to reducing carbon emissions — because, obviously, cutting back on the [source of the emissions]() is by far the most effective tactic. ## Matters of State All the same, so-called "petrostates," or those reliant on oil like the United States, will by 2030 have drilled for more fossil fuels than ever before, this latest UN report predicts. The top 2o oil producers in the world are also expected, per their own stated plans, to generate more than double the amount deemed safe by the end of this decade, highlighting the widening gap between those countries' co-signed goals and our jarring realities. Of those top 20 oil-producing countries, which also includes India, Brazil, and Canada, 17 had made net-zero emissions pledges that they're clearly not honoring, the report indicates. There have, however, been four countries — the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, and, curiously, China — whose emissions will fall if they continue with their current plans, the PGR predicts. Shout out to those guys! ## Bad for Business As one of the world's top [alarm ringers]() regarding the [dangers of unmitigated oil production]() and usage, the UN is clearly chagrined at these findings, which do seem to jibe with the general observation that promises to move towards less-polluting energy alternatives in hopes of heading off the worst of climate change [have been empty](). Beyond being very bad for the environment, experts also argue that continuing to rely on fossil fuels, which are [infamously finite](), is bad business, too. "Despite their climate promises, governments’ plan on \[plowing\] yet more money into a dirty, dying industry, while opportunities abound in a flourishing clean energy sector," Neil Grant, one of the PGR's authors and an expert at the Climate Analytics think tank, [told *The Guardian*](). "On top of economic insanity, it is a climate disaster of our own making." We're not captains of industry here at *Futurism*, but it does indeed seem like doubling one's investment in a finite resource that also happens to be strangling the planet alive doesn't make the best business sense, either. **More on climate disaster:** *[Global Warming is Even Worse Than We Thought, Scientists Say]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()