Adds comments from US climate envoy John Kerry
The oil and gas industry has a special responsibility for addressing climate change and promoting decarbonization of global economy, says Sultan al-Jaber, the senior UAE oil executive who will chair the UN Cop 28 climate conference later this year.
"Alongside all industries, the oil and gas sector needs to up its game, do more and do it faster," al-Jaber said today in Houston at CERAWeek by S&P Global. The oil industry needs to decarbonize its own operations and help its customers reduce their emissions as well, he said. "The science is clear - we need to get fully behind net zero."
The UAE's decision to name the chief executive of state oil giant Adnoc as the president of Cop 28 was met with enthusiasm from the oil and gas industry, which hopes to have a bigger voice in the discussion on energy transition. Environmental activists, by contrast, expressed concern about the pick - a reality al-Jaber said today was understandable. "I appreciate that (skepticism), but I do invite them to look at my career history," al Jaber said. "What I can comfortably say is that I bring a sober, action-oriented, results-driven agenda to help advance the global climate dialogue."
The UAE is aiming to forge a consensus at Cop-28 that balances "passion and realism," al-Jaber says - a reference to voices calling for a slower transition schedule to take into account energy security concerns and to critics who fear the world is backsliding on climate change goals.
The oil and gas industry has fallen behind on even outlining scope 1 and 2 goals, al Jaber said, referring to emissions from direct operations and energy purchases. "We should stretch ourselves to go further. Let's also scale up best practices and aim to reach net zero methane emissions by 2030."
But al Jaber also said that decarbonizing the oil and gas sector would not be sufficient for meeting climate change goals. "Aluminum, steel and cement, and many other heavy industries, make up 30pc of global emissions. We need to make them work better and cleaner."
Another goal for the UAE presidency of Cop 28 is to "build bridges between North and South, private sector, governments and all stakeholders," al Jaber said.
Other panels at CERAWeek today provided some insight on the ongoing and future debates on energy transition between the global "North and South" - the advanced and emerging economies.
Viewing energy transition timeline and requirements "through a purely Anglo-Saxon lens is not going to work," Malaysian state-owned Petronas chief executive Tengku Muhammad Taufik said. "Because in Asia, not all governments are able to replicate what you've done with (the US' Inflation Reduction Act legislation), nor do we have immediate responses to the carbon border adjustment mechanism that is being sought after by Europe." The Inflation Reduction Act, the most sweeping national climate legislation ever passed in the US, would provide $369bn in clean energy funding.
The US approach of providing financial incentives for decarbonization is preferable to carbon-based trade restrictions, Taufik said. But pushing back on an accelerated timeline for energy transition and identifying financial needs for it by emerging economies should not be equated to climate change denial, Taufik said.
"We are not climate deniers, I want to put this on record," he said.
The biggest challenge to advancing global decarbonization goals is lack of funding, US presidential climate envoy John Kerry said at a separate CERAWeek session.
"I swear to God, if you put money on the table, this is doable," Kerry said of the UN climate goals. But Kerry recounted visiting emerging economies and being forced to say: 'We don't have the money' And frankly, folks, I hate to say that."
The US administration is hoping to redirect funding from multilateral developmental finance institutions to fill the multi-trillion dollar gap in funding for decarbonization, Kerry said.
The US and Germany recently worked to provide $500mn in sovereign guarantees for a project by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to retire inefficient gas fired power plants in Egypt and replace them with 10GW of wind power capacity, Kerry said.
The project would allow Egypt to save gas for exports, including to Europe, while reducing emissions from its power sector. "It's a net reduction of 15GW of emissions," Kerry said.
