[ericdykstra]

Mass extraction and consumption of oil and coal will happen until these resources are too sparse to warrant building new plants or maintaining existing ones.

I don't really see any future where this doesn't happen. If you remove coal subsidies, or tax them, then some of the energy production currently handled by coal will change to oil, but once the oil becomes expensive enough to extract, coal mines will open back up again.

This just seems inevitable to me. Is there an angle I'm missing?

[jes5199]

the cost of solar panels, wind turbines, and battery storage continue to drop. They are already undercutting coal in about half of the world. They’ll depress the prices of fossil fuels until it’s no longer possible to turn a profit on them at all.