A new oil and gas sector alliance is being organized by the COP28 team behind the United Nations Climate Summit in the United Arab Emirates, but its early outlines of goals aimed at tackling global warming do not include the bulk of emissions that arise from use. from fossil fuels.
Described as a COP28 flagship initiative, the Global Alliance for Carbon Removal will set a target of net-zero emissions by 2050 from emissions and direct emissions derived from energy bought by companies, known as Scope 1 and 2, a commencement letter seen by the FT says.
However, the framework as outlined in the letter does not include a target for so-called Scope 3 emissions, or the indirect emissions that make up by far the largest proportion of the sector’s pollution.
The central question of these emissions was addressed by Sultan Al Jaber, president-designate of COP28 and chairman of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, in a speech to the CERAWeek Energy Conference in March.
He told the gathering that the oil and gas industry “has the capacity and the resources to help everyone tackle Scope 3 emissions.” The sector “needs to up its game, do more and do it faster”.
Companies responsible for just under half of global oil and gas production have announced individual plans or targets to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions,”Only a small partIt was ambitious enough, according to the International Energy Agency.
“It’s difficult to see a significant amount of decarbonization in the GCDC,” said Thomas Hill, director of the independent research group Net Zero Tracker, adding that any “credible” oil and gas initiative must address Scope 3 emissions.
“The UAE as an oil and gas producer has a great opportunity to be the transformative force for bringing together the entire industry to take this challenge seriously.”
A special workshop is expected to be held next week in the UAE, where the coalition and the interim framework will be discussed.
COP28 said it would not comment on the leaked documents.
US climate envoy John Kerry, center, speaks with Sultan Al Jaber, COP28 chair-designate, right, at the Petersburg Climate Dialogue in Berlin last week © Getty Images
The last letter outlining the targets was directed to COP Industry Partners and sent by Samir Shehabi, COP28’s Head of Energy Transition, who worked for Occidental Petroleum in Abu Dhabi. “We aim to reach net zero emissions (Scope 1 and 2) under our control, and work with partners to achieve the same in non-operated assets, by or before 2050,” she said.
While it does not include a reference to a quantifiable target for Scope 3 emissions, it says backers of the planned alliance would be required to support the “ambition” of working with customers, partners and other energy-intensive industries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It sets incremental targets for methane in upstream production. Methane is the main constituent of the gas and a strong contributor to the greenhouse effect that can leak out during production and distribution. It is estimated to be responsible for about 30 percent of the global warming since the Industrial Revolution, with the energy industry accounting for about a third of the methane generated by human activity.
The letter proposed a goal to end all routine flaring, in which gas produced during oil production is burned rather than collected.
“We aim for no routine flaring and near-zero methane emissions by 2030 in our exploration and production operations,” the company said, without referring to methane in midstream or pipeline operations.
The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, launched in 2014 and backed by Saudi Aramco, BP, ExxonMobil and other major oil and gas companies, already has a similarly stated goal of zero methane emissions.
The UAE-backed initiative includes a proposal that oil and gas companies in the alliance should aim to measure, verify and report on emissions reduction progress and investment plans on how to do so, initially focusing on 2030.
The petro-state has consistently said it wants to bring fossil fuel producers to the center of efforts to tackle climate change.
At climate talks in Petersburg, Germany, last week, which were attended by more than 40 country representatives, Jaber said fossil fuels “will continue to play a role for the foreseeable future,” and stressed the use of carbon capture and storage to collect emissions from highly polluting industries, a technology that has not been Prove yet widely.
An official summary of the talks from Berlin said there was “much debate” among representatives about the extent to which carbon capture and storage should be deployed in the energy sector. Some have expressed “caution” about the “cost, unclear timelines, potential for delayed transition, and environmental impacts” of pairing CCS with fossil fuels, she said.
The abstract noted that in discussions about increasing renewable energy, “some” countries have stressed the need to “replace” fossil fuels with clean energy sources.
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