ECO has been listening to the high-level opening speeches yesterday and today with interest, and is very happy to hear several countries and leaders naming oil, gas and coal as the cause of our crisis. When the COP26 decision finally mentioned the fossil fuel elephant, it opened a door that cannot be closed.
It’s true. Digging up and burning dead rainforests is a path to disaster. Digging for oil, gas, and coal is what has gotten us into the deep hole we’re in. ECO is excited to hear these words in the High Level Segment.
But ECO has questions, and ECO has worries. Saying there’s an elephant in the room doesn’t help get the elephant out of the room if all you do is lie and say that it’s a very clean elephant.
It is worrying to hear some leaders opening this COP27 with dishonest weasel words (like “abated”) about how their oil and gas is somehow better than anyone else’s. ECO knows that burning just the oil, gas and coal in developed, operating fields and mines now will take the world beyond 2ºC, let alone 1.5ºC.
The reality is that around 80-90% of the emissions from the oil and gas supply chain come when the oil and gas is burned, not before – so when companies and countries try to distract focus onto the emissions elsewhere in the supply chain, they’re distracting attention onto only 10-20% of the climate pollution.
The dash for gas in Africa is not clean, and it is not a path to prosperity. It is fossil fuel colonialism, digging deeper into disaster.
Stop pretending the elephant in the room can be burned cleanly. It’s time to stop burning elephants. No more fossil fuels.