Multinationals call for gradual elimination of fossils – 10/23/2023 – Environment

Major multinationals, including Bayer, Volvo, Decathlon, Ikea, Nestlé, Danone, Heineken, eBay and Unilever, have called on governments to phase out the use of fossil fuels as a way of meeting the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, established in the Paris Agreement.

One month before COP28, the UN conference on climate change to be held in Dubai, the 131 companies gathered in the We Mean Business coalition, which earn US$1 billion (R$5 billion, at current prices) annually, said they were “feeling the impact and cost of the increase in extreme weather phenomena resulting from climate change” and that they cannot carry out this transition “alone in a safe or efficient way”.

“Financial institutions, fossil fuel producers and governments have a key role,” they stated, calling on countries to “establish goals and a timetable for the progressive elimination” of fossil fuels whose carbon emissions are not captured or stored.

The issue of energy generated by oil, one of the main sources of CO emissions_two in the atmosphere, will be central to the negotiations at COP28, in Dubai, in November.

Several countries advocate the almost total elimination of fossil fuels whose burning does not involve procedures for capturing or storing the gases emitted. Techniques for capturing or storing greenhouse gases, however, are still not widespread and viable, for the most part.

“As buyers and users of energy in the global system, we have an important role to play in sending a clear signal about our future energy use,” declared the companies gathered in the coalition.