Source: AFP
All major oil and gas companies are planning a fossil fuel expansion that is incompatible with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to a new report on Wednesday.
The assessment of the 25 largest listed fossil fuel companies by the think tank Carbon Tracker is designed to enable investors to judge whether the companies are in line with internationally agreed climate targets.
None are, the report found.
“Companies around the world are publicly declaring their support for the Paris Agreement goals and claiming they are part of the solution to accelerating the energy transition,” said Maeve O’Connor, Carbon Tracker Oil and Gas Analyst and author of the report.
“Unfortunately, however, we see that none are currently aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement, although there are clear differences between companies.”
The report rates companies on a scale from A to H, using criteria that include investment, production plans and emissions targets.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/8d8096e3e2ce7346.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/8d8096e3e2ce7346.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
Read also
Asian markets move as traders await the Fed’s policy decision
An A grade could potentially align with the 2015 Paris Agreement goals of limiting temperature rise to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius and, if possible, the safer limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Grade H, according to Carbon Tracker, is the furthest from the Paris target, with activities and strategy more consistent with catastrophic warming of 2.4C or worse.
The report found that the highest-rated company was Britain’s BP, with a D rating.
At the bottom of the Carbon Tracker list were Saudi Aramco, Brazil’s Petrobras and the US’s ExxonMobil, all rated G. US company Conoco Phillips received an H.
“Right transition”
Almost all companies evaluated are planning new developments and production increases in the short term.
Only BP projects a long-term decline, while Repsol, Equinor and Shell expect to maintain roughly the same levels.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/e3814fb3a199b802.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/e3814fb3a199b802.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
Read also
Yen falls, Asian markets mixed as Japan raises interest rates
But BP said last year that carbon emissions would not fall as quickly as expected as it posted record annual profits thanks to rising oil and gas prices.
The company said carbon emissions from oil and gas production will fall by 20-30 percent in 2030 compared to 2019, compared with its previous forecast of a 25-40 percent drop.
British oil and gas giant Shell last week also scaled back its targets for reducing carbon emissions, although it insisted it was pursuing a “balanced and smooth transition from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy”.
With 1.2C of warming so far, people across the globe are already facing deadly and economically devastating climate impacts, with global temperatures last year reaching their hottest on record, fueling wildfires, storms and withering droughts crops.
At the UN’s COP28 climate conference in December, nearly 200 countries agreed to a call to transition away from fossil fuels and triple renewable energy capacity this decade.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/408caa560ab004a5.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/408caa560ab004a5.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
Read also
Asian trade is cautious ahead of key interest rate decisions
But the oil and gas industry has made clear it plans to stay as long as possible.
Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said this week that the world should “abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas and instead invest in them reflecting sufficiently realistic demand assumptions.”
Source: AFP