Top scientists and many global leaders have agreed: to address the intensifying climate catastrophe, we must immediately address the supplyside of fossil fuels by retiring oil and gas production, quickly and drastically.

It’s alarming, then, that current trends are continuing in the other direction. The recent COP28 climate summit dashed immediate hopes of agreeing on a phaseout of fossil fuel production. The Global Carbon Project projects a 1.1 percent increase in global fossil carbon dioxide emissions for 2023.

At the same time, there are clear signs of shifts in the policy and public opinion battles against the fossil fuel industry. The urgent need to abandon fossil fuels is taking over mainstream climate discourse. The rising generation of younger people is evermore committed to addressing the climate crisis. Creative solutions, and the movements to drive them, are growing, especially at the local level.

Truthout spoke to several climate organizers and researchers about the current conjuncture and ways that, even as the current world of fossil fuel power clings to existence, a new world — beyond fossil fuels and centered in justice — is fighting to be born.

“We are hurtling towards disaster, eyes wide open,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in June. “The solution is clear: the world must phase out fossil fuels in a just and equitable way — moving to leave oil, coal and gas in the ground where they belong — and massively boosting renewable investment in a just transition.”

In a special report published in November, the International Energy Agency declared that the fossil fuel industry is facing “a moment of truth… over its engagement with clean energy transitions,” adding that the “uncomfortable truth” for the industry is that “successful clean energy transitions require much lower demand for oil and gas, which means scaling back oil and gas operations over time — not expanding them.”

But as the world cries out for a fossil fuel phaseout, numerous developments appear to suggest the opposite is occurring.

Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels are expected to rise by 1.1 percent in 2023. The U.S. is set to see record high oil and gas production in 2023. The United Nations recently declared that “even in the most optimistic scenario, the likelihood of limiting warming to 1.5°C is only 14 per cent,” and that instead the world is on track for a 2.5-2.9°C temperature rise above pre-industrial levels.

The recent COP28 talks in Dubai — flooded with oil industry lobbyists — ended with a pledge that contained language about “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems,” but failed to commit to a fossil fuel phaseout. Critics have highlighted numerous weaknesses in the COP28 deal that prolong the status quo.

Moreover, Big Oil is further concentrating production. On October 11, ExxonMobil announced a $59.5 billion acquisition of fracking giant Pioneer Natural Resources. It was the company’s biggest acquisition since 1999, when Exxon and Mobil merged. Almost two weeks later, Chevron announced a $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corporation.

ExxonMobil’s acquisition of Pioneer will bring a whopping 15 percent of the output of the Permian Basin, probably the........

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