COP28 Has Been Hijacked by the Fossil Fuel Industry

An advisor working with the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty told The New York Times yesterday, “At this point, we might as well meet inside an actual oil refinery,” referring to COP28 beginning tomorrow, November 30th, in Dubai. More than 70,000 will attend this carnie event including representatives of the fossil fuel industry and nations that are the major producers of coal, oil, and natural gas.

The Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Dr. Fatih Birol, (the organization used to be an apologist for the fossil fuel industry, but not anymore) describes COP28 as “a moment of truth” for coal, oil and gas. Almost everything being talked about by these companies and countries indicates they are committed to continue to explore for new finds, increase production from existing assets, and pay lip service to climate change mitigation but only if they receive financial assistance from taxpayers. Becoming “part of the solution” is not in the fossil fuel industry’s DNA.

Dr. Birol is unequivocal in stating the “uncomfortable truth.” To mitigate climate change, fossil fuel production has to be reduced. Demand for oil and gas needs to be curtailed. There cannot be continued expansion and the cutting of new production and exploration deals blatantly being explored at COP28. There can’t be, and yet there are.

To call what is going to take place at this meeting hypocritical is an understatement. COP28 was to be the meeting that would produce the global measuring stick to lower carbon emissions.

With Dubai the host city for COP28, and with the President of the COP, Dr. Sultan al-Jaber being the head of Masdar, the UAE’s state oil company, it shouldn’t surprise us that briefing documents that leaked to the press show plans for discussions on fossil fuel deals involving 15 nations were to be discussed at the upcoming meeting. The nations involved include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Egypt, France, Germany, Kenya, Mozambique, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK, and the US.

The leaked briefing documents show that projects being proposed include several to increase oil and gas development. The IEA as I have previously reported here, has stated that no new fossil fuel projects should be developed. The reality today is that the oil and gas industry today budgets hundreds of billions annually on capital expenditures to support its operations. Of that amount, US $20 billion, or 2.5% is allocated to clean energy projects. What’s needed is 50% to be spent on clean energy not including investments to reduce emissions from operations in the run-up to 2030.

The Globe and Mail newspaper recently highlighted commitments by the Alberta provincial and Canada’s federal governments to provide grants and tax breaks covering more than 50% of the cost of new carbon capture emission reduction projects. The IEA has described carbon capture as the status quo solution the fossil fuel industry has proposed would allow it to continue or increase production levels.

To limit global mean temperature rise to 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), however, the agreed lower target set in 2015 in the Paris Climate Agreement requires the industry to capture 32 billion tons of carbon for utilization or storage by 2050 including 23 billion tons from direct air capture (DAC) projects. Existing carbon capture projects capture 45 million tons annually. To achieve industry carbon capture targets, the IEA has noted that the amount of electricity needed exceeds current power usage for the planet.

At a recent press conference, COP28’s Director General, Majid al-Suwaidi claimed that Dr. al-Jaber “is singularly focused on the business of COP and delivering ambitious and transformational climate outcomes.” The other stuff going on where meetings with oil and gas companies will discuss business opportunities are “fully independent” and have nothing to do with the “meaningful climate action” that Dr. al-Jaber expects to come out of the UAE-hosted event.

In 2022, the fossil fuel industry produced US $5 trillion in revenue. Earlier in 2023, two of the world’s largest companies, BP and Shell, announced they were rolling back previous commitments to cut oil production. The lure of profits was just too great. Meanwhile, President Biden in the U.S., and Prime Minister Sunak, in the U.K., have continued to grant oil and gas exploration permits which certainly sounds like business as usual for the singular industry responsible for the impending climate change crisis we face. In September, global mean temperatures reached 1.8 Celsius (3.2 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.