The Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of ten global oil and gas companies have issued a collaborative declaration on climate change, and 14 major corporations based or operating in the US have endorsed a statement calling for negotiators at the Paris Climate Change Conference to adopt “a more balanced and durable multilateral framework guiding and strengthening national efforts to address climate change.”
16 October 2015: The Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of ten global oil and gas companies have issued a collaborative declaration on climate change, and 14 major corporations based or operating in the US have endorsed a statement calling for negotiators at the Paris Climate Change Conference to adopt “a more balanced and durable multilateral framework guiding and strengthening national efforts to address climate change.”
The ten oil and gas companies are those that currently make up the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), namely BG Group, BP, Eni, Pemex, Reliance Industries, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Statoil and Total, which together provide almost a fifth of all oil and gas production, and supply nearly 10% of the world’s energy. In their declaration, the CEO of these companies express their collective support for an effective climate change agreement to be reached at the Paris Climate Change Conference taking place in November-December 2015.
The declaration sets out the CEOs’ shared ambition for a “2°C future,” referring to the goal of limiting global average temperature rise to 2°C, and acknowledges that current global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission trends are not consistent with this ambition. It expresses their commitment to play their part, and to “collectively strengthen our actions and investments to contribute to reducing the GHG intensity of the global energy mix.” The OGCI also launched its collaborative report titled ‘More Energy, Lower Emissions: Catalyzing Practical Action On Climate Change,’ which highlights the OGCI’s measures to address climate change, such as increased investments in natural gas, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and renewable energy, as well as low-GHG research and development.
The OGCI is a CEO-led, voluntary, oil and gas industry initiative that aims to catalyze practical action on climate change through best practice sharing and collaboration.
The statement endorsed by the 14 US corporations was developed by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). It expresses the businesses’ commitment to working to mobilize the technology, investment and innovation needed to transition to a sustainable low-carbon economy, and calls for the Paris climate change agreement to, inter alia, commit all parties to undertake nationally-determined efforts to reduce GHG emissions and require periodic renewal of national contributions to progressively strengthen the global effort. The statement highlights that the agreement should, at a minimum, include all of the world’s major economies, and highlighted that it can help strengthen the role of, and minimize risks to, the private sector in different ways, such as by promoting transparency and addressing competitiveness. [OGCI Joint Collaborative Declaration] [Publication: More Energy, Lower Emissions: Catalyzing Practical Action on Climate Change] [OGCI Press Release] [C2ES Statement ‘In Support of a Paris Climate Agreement’] [C2ES Press Release] [OGCI Website] [C2ES Website]