Paying for restaurant meals is a cost. Taking classes to learn how to cook your own meals is an investment.
Similarly, suffering through the effects of climate change is a cost, but spending money to avoid the worst climate outcomes is an investment. The difference is meaningful ¡ª as Exxon Mobil Corp. has inadvertently reminded us.
In a regulatory filing last week, the oil giant argued it shouldn¡¯t have to bother disclosing more-detailed estimates of the cost of phasing out its fossil-fuel business to meet the International Energy Agency¡¯s Net Zero Emissions scenario for 2050, calling the goal too unrealistic to merit careful accounting. That¡¯s fair enough, considering the world isn¡¯t on a path to keeping its net-zero promises. But then Exxon apparently couldn¡¯t resist adding: ¡°(I)t is highly unlikely that society would accept the degradation in global standard of living required to permanently achieve a scenario like the IEA NZE.¡±
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