It is a tale of two numbers. The first is £19.3bn: the total increase in energy bills for UK households this year. The second is £9.5bn: the profit made by a single energy company, BPAn oil and gas company previously known as British Petroleum until it rebranded itself as Beyond Petroleum in 2002. Eight years later it was responsible for the biggest marine oil spill in history, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill., in 2021. 

For many, it is proof that big energy companies are profiting directly from people's misery. As fuel prices rise, households are being plunged into fuel poverty while corporations like BP and ShellLast week, the oil giant also reported bumper profits of £14bn on the same day that the energy regulator announced UK householders would see a 54% rise in their domestic energy bills in April. profit. All the while, the planet is facing an environmental crisis.

Critics in the UK have called for a windfall tax to redress the balance. It piles yet more pressure on a sector that is already facing public anger over its slow transition to a green economy. 

But some are less quick to judge fossil fuel companies. After all, everyone benefits from the energy they provide. 

There is evidence that fossil fuels created the modern world. For most of human history, we had to choose between enough food and enough fuel.

If we wanted more fuel - in the form of wood - we had to grow less food. Population growth would fall. But if we wanted more food, we would have to grow less wood. There was no way of expanding both the population and industry.

Coal changed all that. Suddenly, there was a form of fuel that could be mined from underground, so it took up much less land. It was also more efficient than wood. At last, there was enough food to support an expanding population, and more fuel for industry. It was the recipe for the Industrial RevolutionA period of sudden, rapid industrialisation that transforms a country from an agricultural to an industrial economy..

And fossil fuels still underpin our comfortable modern lives. They transport consumer goods to us over long distances and sometimes transport us over long distances for holidays. They heat our houses and cook our food.

So rather than blaming fossil fuel companies, many argue, we should recognise that we are responsible for the demand they are catering for.

And fossil fuel companies do seem to understand the need for an energy transition. Many have set themselves net-zero targetsMany countries and large companies around the world have pledged to reduce their net emissions to zero by 2050, although there is criticism of the way this is measured. for 2050. In a world that is going green, companies have an incentive to maintain their dominance of the energy market by investing in renewable options.

Others think this is nonsense. Fossil fuel companies talk about renewable energy but in reality, they are investing next to nothing in it. In 2020 less than 12% of their total spending was on renewable energy. 

While they do have an incentive to take control of renewable energy, they also do not want to risk their fossil fuel reserves becoming stranded assets. That is why many of their "renewable" projects, like blue hydrogenHydrogen gas produced from the burning of natural gas with carbon capture technology to collect the carbon dioxide that results. The technology is still in its infancy and critics suggest it is a smokescreen to allow the continued burning of natural gas., are still based on fossil fuels.

Moreover, the companies have often actually lobbied against green measures and spread disinformation about the climate. One study found that the five largest oil and gas companies are spending £153m each year to delay or block policies to tackle the climate crisis.

And when climate breakdown was first detected by scientists working for Exxon in the early 1980s, the company covered up the research, recognising it as a threat to their very existence.

Yes: Big energy companies are making billions off the backs of ordinary families, and they are driving the world into oblivion by blocking climate measures. Time to bring them to heel.

No: The fossil fuel giants provide a service that underpins our very way of life. Thanks to them, ordinary people enjoy a level of comfort that has been unthinkable throughout most of human history.

Or... Fossil fuel companies were vital for getting us to where we are today, and if they turn their vast profits towards green energy they can solve the climate crisis. We just need to nudge them in the right direction.