The reality of climate science has ‘passed its verdict’ on the oil and gas industry, making the COP 28 Forum, which got underway in Dubai yesterday, a ‘moment of truth’ for the sector, Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol has gone on record as saying. Birol has reportedly asserted that a point has been reached where the oil and gas industry has little option but to take action on de-carbonization. With the latest IEA projections indicating that global oil and gas demand is set to peak by 2030, the IEA is asserting that in order to align with a 1.5 °C scenario, the industry’s emissions must decline by 60 per cent by 2030. Whether the current global oil recovery regime can live within those strictures is likely to be one of the key issues which COP 28 will have to confront.
Accordingly, the Turkish energy expert and economist, who has served as the IEA’s Executive Director since 2015, is recommending to the oil and gas industry that it use the COP 28 Forum in Dubai to “‘commit yourself… to reduce your own emissions by 60%’,” a decision, which he says would provide “an entry ticket to being a genuine partner in the fight against climate change.” To align with a 1.5 °C scenario, the industry’s own emissions need to decline by 60% by 2030, the Agency asserts. “Our first suggestion to the oil and gas industry is ‘commit yourself in Dubai to reduce your own emissions by 60%’ … this would give an entry ticket to being a genuine partner in the fight against climate change,” Birol says.
Alluding to the IEA’s ‘The Oil and Gas Industry in Net Zero Transitions’ report, Birol asserts that in today’s clean energy world, technologies overlap within the oil and gas industry. “These,” he says, are “areas that the oil and gas industry can make major efforts in terms of their investments.” Oil and gas companies currently account for just 1% of clean energy investment globally – and 60% comes from four companies. Birol, meanwhile, has reportedly dismissed the notion that Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) will enable the continued production of oil and gas as “pure fantasy”. In sum, the energy expert asserts that “the oil and gas industry is facing a moment of truth at COP28, in Dubai. With the world suffering the impacts of a worsening climate crisis, continuing with business as usual is neither socially nor environmentally responsible,” he adds.