Within the diplomatic alliance to keep fossil fuels in the ground

LONDON – Costa Rica and Denmark lead efforts to build world’s first diplomatic alliance to manage the decline in oil and gas production.

The co-leaders of the initiative, known as the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, seek to establish a deadline for ending oil and gas production that would allow countries to align countries on the road. The 2015 Paris Agreement. This legally binding treaty aims to limit global heating to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels – and preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius. Compliance with the terms of the agreement is widely recognized as being of crucial importance to avert an irreversible climate crisis.

The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance is expected to officially launch in early November, during the UN-negotiated climate negotiations, a summit known as COP26.

By then, Costa Rica and Denmark are looking to persuade as many countries and jurisdictions as possible to join them in ending oil and gas production.

It comes at a time when decision-makers are under intense pressure to meet the demands of the climate emergency. The burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, is the main driver of the climate crisis, and yet the global dependence on fossil fuels is expected to worsen further in the coming decades.

Speaking at an online webinar hosted by the International Renewable Energy Agency on Thursday, Dan Jorgensen, Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities, said: “The science is clear. We cannot not negotiate with nature. “

“There is no scenario where we burn all the oil and gas we can find and where we stay below 2 degrees – and certainly not 1.5. It just isn’t possible. , so we have to stop. “

Denmark pledged in December last year to end all future licensing rounds for North Sea oil and gas exploration and to set a 2050 shutdown date for production. of oil and gas. At that time, this relatively small European country was the largest oil producer in the European Union.

“On the one hand, if you look at it, it’s a huge thing to ask a country,” Jorgensen said, acknowledging the challenge of trying to persuade others to sign the alliance.

“What you say, as one of my political opponents did when I proposed this to Denmark, is, ‘So basically you want free money to be said no? can do it for us? ”

“And I had to say: Well, yeah,” Jorgensen continued. “But it’s for a good reason.”

Andrea Meza, Costa Rica’s Minister of Environment and Energy, said Thursday that some opposition political parties were pushing the country’s government to consider using oil and gas revenues to fund their energy transition. “We are very clear that this is not the right path.”

Costa Rica, a Central American country of about 5 million people, has never extracted oil. In addition, he is currently studying a bill to permanently ban fossil fuel exploration to ensure that no future government does.

When asked during the same webinar why other countries would consider joining their initiative, Meza said platforms like Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance must exist to show others that it is possible.

“It’s just a planet,” Meza said. “It’s not about doing things the right way inside our countries and selling… all the old technology outside our borders. It’s not fair.”

Research published in the scientific journal Nature on September 9 found that the vast majority of the world’s known reserves of fossil fuels must be kept in the ground to have any hope of preventing the worst effects of climate change.

Separately, an analysis released Wednesday by Carbon Action Tracker showed that none of the world’s major economies are currently on track to contain global warming to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

It follows an explosive report from the influential, but generally conservative, International Energy Agency earlier this year. The IEA concluded that there could be no further development of oil, gas or coal if the world were to reach net zero fossil fuel emissions by 2050.

Dane Jorgensen said it would be “rude” to name specific countries, but described it as a “paradox” that many governments tout their commitment to net zero by 2050 while quietly planning to extract oil and gas to sell to others. These countries include the United States, Canada, Norway, and the United Kingdom, among others.

“You’re not going to burn it yourself and you think other people shouldn’t either, but you will make money by selling oil to other countries? It doesn’t make sense,” he said. he added.

Jorgensen said he didn’t want to deny the fact that signing the yet-to-be-revealed commitments of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance will come with tough economic choices, especially those heavily dependent on oil and gas. “But, these are the tough questions we need to ask ourselves.”

“Can we live with a future where we don’t do this?” I don’t think we can. “

Speaking alongside Denmark’s Jorgensen and Costa Rica’s Meza on Thursday, former United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres spoke of the urgent need for governments to drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels. She cited air pollution, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels, which kills around 7 million people worldwide each year.

Figueres also stressed that the economic imperatives to move beyond oil and gas were compelling. “They’re just inferior technologies now. They weren’t inferior in the last century, but in this century, given the rise of all the other alternatives we have, they have become inferior technologies.”

A growing number of cities banning the use of fossil fuel vehicles was likely to usher in “the demise of oil,” Figueres said. Shutting down gas production could take longer given it’s recognized as a transitional fuel, she said, but still no more than 20 to 30 years as there are alternative fuels coming in. in the market, such as hydrogen and ammonia, “which will be able to compete favorably.”

In summary, Figueres said that the economic affair, the “beating” of litigation in Europe and elsewhere and a social license for these fuels which has been “completely lost”, have shown that there is no more room for oil and gas production.