The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, stated this Sunday that the commitments made at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai, by around fifty oil and gas companies “are clearly insufficient.”
Despite recognizing that this is a “step in the right direction”, António Guterres stated that the “Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter”, signed in Dubai, does not address the fundamental issue of fossil fuel consumption, according to the agency Spanish news. EFE.
Some fifty companies, responsible for more than 40% of global oil production, have committed, for example, to carrying out “carbon-neutral operations” by 2050 and to reducing methane emissions to almost zero.
Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is a major component of natural gas and is responsible for about a third of global warming.
Oil companies also agreed to adopt a series of measures to reduce their emissions.
“The fossil fuel industry is finally beginning to wake up, but the promises made are clearly insufficient,” warned Guterres, in his message to COP28, cited by EFE.
Guterres, who referred to oil and gas companies as the “giants behind the climate crisis,” also said the agreement does not clarify the path to reaching zero emissions by 2050, which is “absolutely essential to ensure the integrity “.
“The science is clear: we must progressively eliminate fossil fuels within a time frame compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees,” he reiterated, referring to one of the main objectives established by the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Guterres also presented a report at COP28, prepared by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the United Nations World Meteorological Organization, showing that more lives are being protected from extreme weather events and dangerous effects of climate change, although the pace of progress remains insufficient.
So far, 101 countries have reported having an early warning system, an increase of six countries from last year and representing a doubling of coverage since 2015.
However, according to the report, half of the world’s countries still do not have adequate early warning systems.
Among the signatories of the letter are the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Abu Dhabi’s national oil company led by the president of COP28, Sultan Al-Jaber, as well as large European companies such as Repsol, the Norwegian state. owned company Equinor and the French company TotalEnergies.
Source: TSF
