THE OUTLOOK FOR OIL STORAGE IN A LOWER-CARBON ECONOMY

Columbia University’s Antoine Halff examines the effect of changing policies under the Biden administration Joe Biden’s election to the US presidency in 2020 has ushered in a period of renewed momentum for climate policy both in Washington and beyond. In a U-turn from Donald Trump’s climate scepticism and rejection of the Paris Accord, President Biden from his first day in office has embraced a bold climate agenda, vowing to pursue an all-of-government approach to combatting climate change. Countries and companies around the world have greeted Washington’s return to the Paris fold with a flurry of net zero targets and bold decarbonisation plans – a trend perhaps accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The potential implications of this green wave for the oil storage industry are momentous. Any drastic shift in the composition of the fuel mix, any bid to move away from fossil fuels in favour of renewable energy and clean electricity, is bound to have significant effects on the role of oil storage in our energy system. Yet the consequences of such a shift are not necessarily those one might expect. Energy policy debates tend to focus on the two opposite ends of the supply...