Sustainability and Fossil Fuel Reliance

Read the following excerpt from a scholarly article on environmental policy:

While the benefits of sustainable energy adoption are widely recognized, the transition from traditional energy sources often encounters substantial resistance. Many stakeholders, including politicians and industry leaders, may advocate for a slow pace of change, fearing economic upheaval or job losses. Critics of this inertia argue that such hesitance not only undermines environmental progress but also perpetuates reliance on increasingly scarce fossil fuels.

Given this context, the phrase 'perpetuates reliance on increasingly scarce fossil fuels' primarily suggests that __________.