COP28: Team forms oil and gas industry alliance – 05/11/2023 – Environment

A new oil and gas industry alliance is being put together by the team at COP28, the UN climate summit in the United Arab Emirates, but the first drafts of its targets to combat global warming do not include most of the emissions from the use of fossil fuels.

Announced as a COP28 flagship initiative, the tentatively named Global Alliance for Decarbonization will set the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 from direct emissions and emissions derived from the energy companies buy, known as scope 1 and 2, says the initial letter seen by the Financial Times.

However, the framework outlined in the letter does not include a target for so-called Scope 3 emissions, or indirect emissions, which make up by far the largest percentage of the sector’s pollution.

The central issue of these emissions was addressed by Sultan al-Jaber, COP28 chair-designate and head of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, in a speech at the CERAWeek energy conference in March.

He told the meeting that the oil and gas industry “has the capacity and resources to help everyone deal with Scope 3 emissions.” The sector “needs to step up its game, do more and do it faster”.

Companies responsible for nearly half of global oil and gas production have individually announced plans or targets to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions, “only a fraction” of which were ambitious enough, according to the International Energy Agency.

“It’s hard to see much decarbonization in the Global Decarbonization Alliance,” said Thomas Hale, director of independent research group Net Zero Tracker, adding that any “believable” COP initiative on oil and gas must address Scope 3 emissions.

“The UAE, as an oil and gas producer, has a great opportunity to be the transformative force to bring the entire industry together to take this challenge seriously.”

A private workshop is expected to take place this week in the UAE, where the alliance and interim structure will be discussed.

COP28 said it would not comment on leaked documents.

The recent letter outlining the targets was addressed to COP industry partners and sent by Samir Elshihabi, COP28 Energy Transition Lead, who worked at Occidental Petroleum in Abu Dhabi.

“Our goal is to achieve net zero emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) under our control, and work with partners to achieve the same in non-operated assets, by or before 2050,” he said.

While it does not include mention of a quantifiable target for Scope 3 emissions, the document says backers of the planned alliance will be asked to support an “ambition” to work with customers, partners and other energy-intensive industries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. greenhouse effect.

It sets progressive targets for methane in downstream production. Methane is the main component of the gas and a potent global warming factor that can leak during production and distribution. It is estimated to be responsible for around 30% of the global temperature rise since the Industrial Revolution, with the energy industry accounting for around a third of human-induced methane.

The letter proposed a goal to end all routine flaring, in which gas produced during oil production is flared rather than collected.

“Our goal is zero routine flaring and almost zero methane emissions by 2030 in our downstream operations,” he said, without referring to medium-haul methane or pipeline operations.

The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, launched in 2014, backed by Saudi Aramco, BP, ExxonMobil and other major companies in the sector, already has a similar stated goal of zero methane emissions.

The UAE-backed initiative includes the proposal that oil and gas companies in the alliance should aim to measure, verify and report their progress in cutting emissions and investment plans on how to do so, initially focused on 2030.

The petro-state has always said it wants to place fossil fuel producers at the center of efforts to combat climate change.

At the Petersberg talks in Germany two weeks ago, attended by more than 40 country representatives, Jaber said that fossil fuels “would continue to play a role for the foreseeable future” and emphasized the use of carbon capture and storage to collect emissions from highly polluting industries, a technology yet to be proven at scale.

An official summary of the Berlin talks said there was “a lot of discussion” between delegates about the extent to which carbon capture and storage (CCS) should be deployed in the energy sector.

“Caution” was the phrase used by some about “the cost, unclear timeframes, possibility of delaying the transition and environmental impacts” of pairing CCS with fossil fuels, he said.

In discussions on increasing renewable energy, “some” countries have emphasized the need to “replace” fossil fuels with clean sources of energy, the summary noted.

_{Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves}