#COP28 team marshals #oilandgas industry alliance ahead of #climate summit
Goals outlined in initiating letter do not address most damaging #emissions
A new alliance of the oil and gas sector is being marshalled by the #COP28UAE team behind the UN climate summit in the #UnitedArabEmirates, but early outlines of its goals aimed at tackling #globalwarming do not include the bulk of emissions that arise from the use of #fossilfuels. https://www.ft.com/content/0d8b8b3e-7f5c-4e0b-8766-834cf01ca876
Billed as a flagship COP28 initiative, the Global Decarbonization Alliance will set a goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 from direct emissions and emissions derived from the energy the companies purchase, known as scope 1 and 2, an initiating letter seen by the FT says.
However, the framework as it is outlined in the letter does not include a target for so-called scope 3 emissions, or the indirect emissions that make up by far the biggest proportion of the sector’s pollution.
The central question of these emissions was addressed by Sultan al-Jaber, president-designate of COP28 and head of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, in a speech to the CERAWeek energy conference in March.
He told the gathering that the oil and gas industry “has the capacity and the resources to help everyone address scope 3 emissions”. The sector “needs to up its game, do more and do it faster”.
Companies responsible for just under half of global oil & gas production have individually announced plans or targets to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions, “only a fraction” of which were sufficiently ambitious, according to the International Energy Agency.
“It’s hard to see much decarbonisation in the Global Decarbonization Alliance,” said Thomas Hale, director of the independent research group Net Zero Tracker, adding that any “credible” oil and gas COP initiative must address scope 3 emissions.
@Andy_Scollick
What are scope 3 emissions? Those resulting when consuming the products sold by these companies?
