We also do not - yet! - have carbon-neutral alternatives for energy usage, either in amount or kind. This is why people are working both to scale up the kinds of energy use that is already carbon-neutral but which there is not yet enough of, and to figure out alternatives for things that do not already have carbon-neutral solutions.
but it is a fair comparison - there's currently no real alternatives for fossil fuels. Renewables do not have the density required for a lot of transportation, not to mention fossil fuels like oil are the feedstock for a lot of chemicals required for modern day manufacturing.
Some sources of electricity could be replaced by renewables, but not all. And certainly not as cheaply as oil or gas is.
Alternative to fossil fuels are synthetic fuels, for example E85 (ethanol 85%). Government can subsidize a clean local production of ethanol from air, like it did for solar panels, to boot start it.