Six Commitments Missing From the Oil and Gas Major’s Climate Declaration

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Major fossil fuel companies have today released a Joint Collaborative Declaration under the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) recognising the need to limit global average temperature rise to 2⁰C. Launched in Paris this morning, they are calling for an “effective climate change agreement at COP21”.

In the declaration, ten oil and gas giants call for “widespread and effective pricing of carbon emissions”. Signatories include the CEOs of Total, Statoil, BP, Shell, BG Group, Saudi Aramco, Pemex, Sinopec, Eni, Reliance, and Repsol.

The companies also back natural gas as a cleaner alternative to coal and want to see more research and development into renewables and carbon capture and storage.  However, the declaration has been criticised for lacking concrete targets.

Here are six commitments missing from the OGCI according to the Carbon Tracker Initiative:

So does the declaration go far enough?

Writing in the Guardian ahead of the pledge’s publication, former chairman of Shell Transport & Trading, Lord Oxburgh, said: “Carbon pricing is a start but a firm list of more ambitious commitments could be transformational.”

We will shortly see whether they are prepared to go as far as the science needs them to. If they issue a firm list of ambitious commitments, they will earn and enjoy the gratitude of this and future generations. If not, they will disappoint their friends and reinforce the scepticism of their critics.”

And, as Anthony Hobley, CEO of the Carbon Tracker Initiative told Climate Home, there are few signs of action within the “fine words and likely intent”.

To have credibility any initiative such as this must come up with more than warm words, it must set out concrete and quantitative commitments to take action,” he said.

Anything less should be seen as nothing more than a cynical attempt to deflect the momentum for action, transparency and focus on the industry.”

Photo via OGCI. CEOs pictured include Helge Lund, BG Group; Bob Dudley, BPOGCI member CEOs not pictured: Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries; Ben van Beurden, Royal Dutch Shell).

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Kyla is a freelance writer and editor with work appearing in the New York Times, National Geographic, HuffPost, Mother Jones, and Outside. She is also a member of the Society for Environmental Journalists.

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