Big Oil pledges support for Paris conference, environmentalists question sincerity

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Ahead of Paris conference, oil CEOs pledge to reduce flaring, methane emissions

Paris Conference
In a letter supporting the Paris Conference, CEOs of 10 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies say they support replacing coal with cleaner-burning natural gas.

STOCKHOLM – The chief executives of 10 of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies have come together to pledge support for an “effective” deal to fight global warming at a Paris conference next month.

In a statement released Friday, the CEOs of BP, Shell, Saudi Aramco, Total, Repsol, Statoil, Eni, Petroelos Mexicanos, Reliance Industries and BG Group said they recognize greenhouse gas emissions trends are inconsistent with the ambition to keep warming below a level many consider dangerous.

In their declaration the 10 CEOs said “Our shared ambition is for a 2°C future. It is a challenge for the whole of society.  We are committed to playing our part. Over the coming years we will collectively strengthen our actions and investments to contribute to reducing the GHG intensity of the global energy mix. Our companies will collaborate in a number of areas, with the aim of going beyond the sum of our individual efforts.”
The CEOs also promise to report regularly and consistently on their progress towards these goals.

The 10 CEOs say they have already taken significant actions to reduce their GHG footprint and have reduced their combined GHG emissions by about 20 per cent over the past 10 years.  The companies pledge to reduce flaring and methane emissions from oil and gas operations as well as replace coal with cleaner-burning natural gas in power generation.

As well as releasing their promise to reduce GHG emissions, the CEOs also released a collaborative report called “More energy, lower emissions”.  The work highlighted practical actions taken by member companies to improve GHG emissions management and work towards climate change impacts in the longer term.

The actions include significant investments in natural gas, carbon capture and storage and renewable energy as well as low GHG research and development.

Greenpeace said the companies’ offer “contains nothing meaningful” and accused them of undermining effective climate action.

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