IPCC: Saudi Arabia leads lobby on carbon capture – 03/22/2023 – Environment

Fossil fuel-producing countries have pressed on key aspects of the UN climate report released this week, with carbon capture technology emerging as one of the sticking points in last-minute discussions between government negotiators signing the definitive research on the climate change.

Discussions dragged on for hours as technologies for carbon capture and storage and carbon dioxide removal were among the issues in the debate for the final draft of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s “Summary for Policymakers” (IPCC, UN meeting in Interlaken, Switzerland.

The report concluded that in the short term it is “most likely” that global warming will increase by 1.5°C since pre-industrial times, and called for urgent action to address climate change.

During negotiations between researchers and policymakers on the final text, Saudi Arabian representatives pushed for an emphasis on technologies aimed at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

That caused consternation among other participants who wanted a greater focus on cutting emissions, “rather than relying on unproven technologies,” according to people briefed on the talks.

While the latest UN report acknowledges the role that carbon capture and storage (CCS) can play in reducing emissions, the authors warn that these technologies present “feasibility and sustainability concerns”.

“The implementation of CCS currently faces technological, economic, institutional, ecological, environmental and socio-cultural barriers”, says the report. “Currently, global CCS deployment rates are far below those of models that limit global warming to 1.5°C to 2°C.”

Critics of carbon capture and storage say the currently expensive and underdeveloped technology is used by oil and gas producers as a way to stay the course, rather than phasing out fossil fuel production and shifting their business models to energy. renewable.

“I’m sure some countries will choose [mensagens do relatório do IPCC]…and just look at the carbon dioxide removal potential,” said another person familiar with the talks.

The Saudi position did not surprise IPCC veterans. In 2021, kingdom officials sought to replace references to “carbon emissions” with “greenhouse gas emissions”, people close to the discussions said at the time.

The United Arab Emirates, the petrostate that will host the UN climate summit this year, was not particularly vocal during discussions over the latest report, said another person briefed on the talks.

However, COP28 President-designate Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, who is also the head of state oil company Adnoc, has consistently emphasized the need to reduce emissions rather than reduce fossil fuel production.

Speaking at CERAWeek this month, he urged the oil and gas industry to implement carbon capture and storage technology and urged policymakers to create incentives to “reduce the cost of carbon capture”.

The UN climate change report puts extra pressure on the COP28 process in the UAE this year. Governments’ commitment to phase out fossil fuels rather than reduce their production has become a sticking point in language agreed at the UN’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021.

Promoting carbon capture technology at COP28 is something “we’re very concerned is going to be high on the agenda,” said Lili Fuhr of the Center for International Environmental Law, a Swiss-based nonprofit, this week.

The COP28 agenda was discussed by government leaders at a two-day climate ministerial meeting in Copenhagen this week, when Jaber reiterated the need to “commercialize carbon capture”.

Among those attending the Copenhagen meeting were European Union climate chief Frans Timmermans, China’s deputy minister for ecology and environment Zhao Yingmin and Germany’s climate envoy Jennifer Morgan.

Last week, Jaber also participated in a roundtable in Paris at the International Energy Agency, which included more than 50 country representatives and energy company executives, and later met with French President Emmanuel Macron.

_{Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves}