A major new energy commitment has been declared by countries and oil companies at the UN climate talks, signalling their dedication to making significant progress in tackling global warming.
It’s worth mentioning that the commitment under discussion specifically targets emissions from production, leaving out the significant aspect of the actual combustion of fossil fuels.
Aramco, from Saudi Arabia, is part of a group of 50 oil and gas companies pledging to halt the addition of planet-warming gases by 2050.
Approximately 100 countries have collectively promised to triple the global consumption of renewable energy by the year 2030.
It’s worth highlighting that missing targets will not incur penalties, and these commitments are not obligatory.
The pledges have been strongly criticised by environmental groups who say it does not meaningfully tackle climate change because it allows fossil fuel production to continue.
And not all of them appear to be new. Many oil companies that have signed up to this commitment had previously announced they would reduce their emissions to zero.
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They also allow companies to increase oil and gas production in the short-term, as long as it is reduced by 2050.
The pledge said that tripling renewable energy would help remove fossil fuels from the world’s energy system by 2050 at the latest.
Addressing the summit on Saturday, COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber said the new pledge ‘adds up to more countries and more companies from more sectors than ever before, all aligning with our North Star of 1.5C’.
World leaders agreed in Paris in 2015 to limit global warming to that amount.
Burning huge amounts of oil, gas and coal is driving climate change but leaders cannot yet agree on how fast the world should stop using them.
Mr Jaber called Saturday’s pledge ‘a great first step’.
‘Whilst many national oil companies have adopted net zero 2050 targets for the first time, I know that they and others, can and need to do more,’ he said. ‘We need the entire industry to keep 1.5C within reach and set even stronger ambitions for decarbonisation.’
But leading climate organisations criticised the announcement.
‘The only way to ‘decarbonize’ carbon-based oil and gas is to stop producing it. Quickly, completely, and permanently. Anything short of this is just more industry greenwash,’ said Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law.
Decarbonisation Charter, according to the UAE, is poised to expedite climate initiatives, with major oil and gas entities, contributing to 40% of global emissions, committing to achieving net-zero status by 2050.
Achieving net zero requires stopping the infusion of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
The UAE’s state oil company, along with 49 other firms, vows to nearly eliminate the emission of the potent greenhouse gas methane in oil and gas production by 2030.
On Saturday UN Secretary-General General António Guterres told the talks that the meeting ‘must commit countries to triple renewables capacity, double energy efficiency, and bring clean energy to all, by 2030.’