The president of the National Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Filipe Duarte Santos, praises the resilience of António Guterres, who this Monday once again defined the climate as a priority. However, the environmentalist emphasizes that these urgent calls are insufficient and accuses oil-producing countries of having “captured” the UN negotiations.
In a year-on-year comparison, energy consumption in 2022 increased, as did greenhouse gas emissions, derived from fossil energy consumption and industry.
Filipe Duarte Santos explains that the war in Ukraine has considerably increased energy prices, particularly natural gas, oil and coal, generating exceptional profits for fossil energy companies.
“Without emissions decreasing very significantly and carbon neutrality being achieved, only then will the concentration begin to fall, but slowly. All of this is something that will take on the order of a century, because the climate is sensitive to concentration. “We have a long process ahead of us to prevent these new extreme phenomena, increasingly more frequent and intense, from affecting populations around the world,” argues the expert, in statements to TSF.
The professor from the Nova University of Lisbon thus points out the ambition of investors, who want to maintain profits, as “an important part of the problem” and that contributes to the resources not taking effect.
“Shareholders come to the conclusion that if they invest in fossil fuels, in renewable energies, they have a higher return, they have more profits. They could notify their investment portfolio and invest more in renewable energies, but it is known that this will not bring the profits that they brings oil and natural gas, that is part of the problem, an important part of the problem, that is why it has not been possible to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and therefore reduce emissions and then the whole process. What follows: do the energy transition”, he explains, adding that oil and natural gas companies have been “increasing investments to find new deposits”, an increase of 11%, which corresponds to an “investment of the order of 500 billion dollars” . , a value that has not been reached since 2015.
Filipe Duarte Santos also accuses oil-producing countries of “capturing” United Nations negotiations. Last year the Climate Summit, COP27, took place in Egypt and, this year, COP 28 will be in the United Arab Emirates and chaired by a CEO of a large oil company.
“The president of the COP [Conferência do Clima da Organização das Nações Unidas] He is also one of the presidents of a company that has investments in renewable energy, but also in natural gas and oil. “It is something surprising,” he says, before adding that this “means that the producing countries have grasped these negotiations.” Even so, the expert warns that this situation is “impossible to avoid,” especially because “it is the countries themselves that are who decide where the COP is and then who will be the president.
“It is something that is beyond the control of the United Nations, but the fact is that this COP negotiation process was captured by fossil fuel interests and this obviously has repercussions,” he insists, stating, however, that this “Not It means saying don’t move on.”
“The COPs are always very important, they are a space for debate, for the exchange of information on good practices. In any case, in terms of progress, in terms of commitments to reduce emissions, to do what Fade off The use of fossil fuels has left much to be desired,” he considers.
Despite the discouraging scenario, the environmentalist emphasizes that not everything is negative and highlights some “positive news.”
“There is news that the G20 will triple investment in renewable energy, so this is a very positive thing and will probably be something that will also be approved at COP 28, in Dubai. It was simply not possible to reach an agreement at the G20 – the G20 accounts for 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions – on the need to do what Fade offThat is, the interruption of consumption, of the use of fossil fuels and that is essential so that we can control this climate change situation,” he concludes.
Source: TSF
