More than 400 oil and gas projects have been approved globally in the past two years, despite calls to abandon all new hydrocarbon development, new figures showed as UN COP28 climate talks opened on Thursday.
With greenhouse gas emissions threatening to heat the planet to catastrophic levels, countries at talks in Dubai are being pressured to agree to phase out oil, gas and coal in order to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees.
Nearly 200 private and public companies in 58 countries participated in the 437 new fossil fuel projects, according to data from the nonprofit Reclaim Finance, based on data from consultants Rystad Energy.
The data demonstrate the mismatch between the continued exploitation of fossil fuels — responsible for most of humanity’s greenhouse gases — and the goal of limiting warming.
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“We are in denial about the environmental emergency and the conclusions drawn by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) scientists,” Reclaim Finance’s Lucy Pinson told AFP.
The UN’s IPCC panel of climate experts said emissions must fall by more than 40 percent this decade to keep within the 1.5C limit.
And in May 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) issued an explosive warning saying “no new oil and gas fields” could be approved to meet its path to net zero emissions, as well as no new coal mines .
Countries agreed at COP26 in Glasgow in late 2021 to “phase out” coal power that does not involve sequestering emissions before they are released into the atmosphere.
However, efforts to broaden the ambition to include oil and gas reduction targets have so far met stiff opposition, despite the rise of renewables.
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“Desperate” need
And fossil fuel expansion shows no signs of stopping.
All 437 new projects by 2022 have received their “final investment decision” — a key commitment where investors approve the development and production of a new hydrocarbon field.
Once in production, they will produce oil and natural gas in huge quantities for years to come.
State oil companies were behind 57% of the projects.
About 22% was linked to just seven oil giants: BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Eni and TotalEnergies.
Qatar alone is set to host 17% of the total expected future production of these planned gas and oil projects, when measured by volume.
Saudi Arabia would host 13 percent, Brazil 10 percent, the United States eight percent and this year’s COP28 host, the United Arab Emirates, would have six percent.
The IEA estimates that global demand for oil and natural gas will peak by 2030, but oil giants argue that the transition to renewable energy is not happening fast enough to replace fossil fuels.
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There is still a “desperate need” for oil and gas, Shell CEO Wael Sawan said in July.
And several European oil giants — including Shell, BP and Enel — recently backed off some of their energy transition targets.
In February, BP backtracked on plans to cut oil and gas production by 40% from 2019 levels by 2030, aiming instead for a 25% reduction.
Source: AFP