Climate Agreement Will Only Hasten Transition Beyond Oil

For almost two weeks, the representatives of nearly 200 different nations have been meeting in Paris to hammer out the language of a new global approach to climate change policies. On Dec. 12, the parties finally approved the Paris agreement, which aims to limit the extent of climate change in the coming decades.

But the climate summit in Paris is just one part of a much larger transition that is already taking place. Just as mankind's primary energy source has changed over the centuries, first from wood to coal and then from coal to oil, new resources are already on the rise to take oil's place. Whether the shift will be toward nuclear power, natural gas, renewables or some combination of the three, the shift away from oil is already well underway, and the Paris agreement will simply speed the process along.