A space is opening to discuss oil and gas exit at Cop26. Lobbyists are pushing back

(Reuters, 11 Nov 2021) Denmark and Costa Rica are driving a push at Cop26 to end the age of oil and gas. But their efforts are running into entrenched fossil fuel interests at the UN climate talks.

Denmark’s climate minister Dan Jørgensen and Costa Rica’s minister of environment and energy Andrea Meza Murillo have pointed out the elephant in the room in climate negotiations: meeting the Paris Agreement goals requires a managed decline of oil and gas production.

Coal, oil and gas are not mentioned in the Paris accord. Many fossil fuel producing nations want to stick to talking about emissions rather than the energy sources behind them. And the influence of industry lobbyists is pervasive.

So the launch of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (Boga) is symbolically important. It is a small group of first movers committed to setting an end date for oil and gas extraction and halting new concessions, licensing or leasing rounds.

“We hope that today will mark the beginning of the end of oil and gas,” minister Jørgensen told a press conference in Glasgow, UK.

External link

Reuters, 11 Nov 2021: A space is opening to discuss oil and gas exit at Cop26. Lobbyists are pushing back