The recent commitments made by countries and oil companies at the UN climate talks, known as COP28, have fallen short of effectively addressing climate change. While around 100 countries and 50 oil and gas companies including Saudi giant Aramco have pledged to make progress in tackling global warming, critics are skeptical of the effectiveness of these promises.
The commitments include tripling world renewable energy use by 2030 and stopping the addition of planet-warming gases by 2050. However, these commitments only cover emissions from production and not the burning of fossil fuels. Furthermore, there are no penalties for missing targets, and the promises are not binding. This raises concerns about the actual impact these pledges will have on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
Prof Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, expresses skepticism towards the oil and gas sector’s ability to address climate change effectively. He believes that the real challenge for the industry is to move away from producing oil and gas entirely. While some of the pledges may seem new, many oil companies had previously announced plans to reduce their emissions to zero.
The pledge also allows companies to increase oil and gas production in the short-term as long as it is reduced by 2050. The idea behind tripling renewable energy use is to remove fossil fuels from the world’s energy system by 2050 at the latest. However, the lack of commitment to reducing the burning of fossil fuels raises doubts about the achievability of this goal.
While the COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber believes that the new pledge is a “great first step,” critics argue that national oil companies and others need to do more to keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach. Reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 is seen as necessary to slow down climate change, but critics claim that the only way to achieve this is to quickly and permanently stop producing carbon-based oil and gas.
UN Secretary-General General António Guterres emphasizes the need for countries to triple renewables capacity, double energy efficiency, and bring clean energy to all by 2030. He also calls for phasing out fossil fuels to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, the International Energy Agency warns that if the world continues to drill for new oil and gas, climate pledges will not be met.
Criticism has also been directed at the UAE’s presidency of the COP28 talks. As one of the top 10 oil and gas producers in the world, the UAE’s commitment to addressing climate change is questioned. The president of the summit, Sultan al-Jaber, heading the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
In conclusion, while the commitments made at COP28 show some progress in addressing climate change, they fall short of effectively tackling the issue. The focus on reducing emissions from production rather than the burning of fossil fuels raises doubts about the actual impact these pledges will have. Stricter and binding commitments, as well as a faster transition away from oil and gas production, are needed to combat climate change effectively.
