None of the world's 25-largest listed oil and gas companies are aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to a new report from think tank Carbon Tracker. BP scores better than its peers thanks to its plan to reduce its production to 2mn b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) by 2030.
Carbon Tracker's latest report, Paris Misaligned II, measured how the companies rate across five criteria — including the alignment of investments, production and emissions targets, as well as remuneration incentives. These are used to produce a scorecard that judges how well-aligned overall oil and gas companies are with the Paris Agreement's target to keep the world's temperature within 1.5-1.7°C of pre-industrial times.
While BP came top, fellow European companies Shell, Norwegian state-controlled Equinor, Spain's Repsol, Italy's Eni, and TotalEnergies were close behind, alongside US independent Chesapeake. The latter scored relatively well because of an expected near-term decline in its production as well as no recent final investment decisions for new projects, Carbon Tracker said.
At the other end of the scorecard were ExxonMobil, Brazilian state-controlled Petrobras, Saudi state-controlled Aramco, US-based Pioneer Natural Resources and ConocoPhillips.
The latest report itemises 15 large oil and gas projects sanctioned in 2022 and 2023 that are outside of a moderate transition scenario, where global temperatures remain within 1.7°C of pre-industrial times. Nine of these — including three that are part of TotalEnergies and Chinese state-controlled CNOOC's Uganda expansion — do not align with a slow transition scenario, in which temperatures are kept to 2.4°C of pre-industrial times, according to the report.
Carbon Tracker's previous Paris Maligned report found that more than a third of investments approved in the January 2021-March 2022 period would only be economic if demand for oil and gas pushed global warming to more than 2.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures.
"This new scorecard enables investors to assess companies' actions relative to peers, and to ask tough questions of company leadership on the realities of the energy transition and addressing climate change," said Carbon Tracker's head of oil, gas and mining research Mike Coffin.
