Exxon Among 50 Oil Producers in Controversial Climate Pact at COP28

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Saudi Arabia’s Aramco، the world’s largest private and state-sector oil companies، led a pledge by 50 oil and gas producers at the COP28 climate summit to cut emissions from their own operations.

Stopping routine flaring of natural gas 

The deal is controversial given none of the companies are agreeing to reduce oil and gas production. But they are also pledging to stem releases of methane، one of the most dangerous greenhouse gases، to near zero by 2030 and stop routine flaring of natural gas.

The initiative was spearheaded by COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber، the chief executive officer of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.، who’s invested political capital bringing the oil and gas industry into the climate fight. 

The 50 members of the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter account for about 40% of global oil production. They include 29 national oil companies، marking progress in a sector that’s been slow to act on methane given a lack of pressure from regulators and investors. The targets won’t be binding، but signatories will have to submit a plan to meet them by 2025.

Among international oil companies، Shell Plc، BP Plc، TotalEnergies SE and Occidental Petroleum Corp. joined Exxon in signing. The most notable absences were Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips.

The list of national oil companies includes Brazil’s Petrobras، Nigeria’s NNPC and Kazakhstan’s KazMunaiGaz. China’s largest oil and gas companies haven’t joined up.

“As we race to build the energy system we need، we must do all we can to decarbonize the energy system we have today،” Al Jaber told COP28 delegates Saturday. “We must work very hard to take real actions in decarbonizing fossil fuels” and “the oil and gas industry must align around our North Star of keeping 1.5 within reach.”

Thirty-one of the companies joining the charter have committed to net-zero methane by 2030 for the first time، Al Jaber said.

The announcement is part of a broader Global Decarbonization Accelerator that includes a pledge to triple global renewables deployment by 2030 and plans to tackle pollution for heavy industry.

Accountability initiative

The oil charter will be buttressed by an at least $40 million methane transparency and accountability initiative meant to make sure the pledged emission reductions materialize. The program، also announced Saturday، represents a collaboration by the International Energy Agency، Environmental Defense Fund، the UN Environment Programme، the International Methane Emission Observatory and RMI، with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Bloomberg Philanthropies is the philanthropic organization of Michael Bloomberg، the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP. 

Expanded methane tracking and data from the program — including surveillance by the MethaneSAT satellite set to launch next year — is meant to arm governments، gas buyers and the public with information about emissions that can be used to hold accountable companies that enrolled in the charter. 

Project collaborators estimate that if fully implemented، the oil company commitments under the charter would have roughly the same impact on the global temperature rise in 2050 as immediately halting emissions from every single car on the road today. Better monitoring and tracking is critical for ensuring companies follow through، said Fred Krupp، head of the Environmental Defense Fund.

“We’re not simply relying on better industry reporting as the guarantor that commitments will be met،” Krupp said. “This is defense in depth.”

Strong Reactions

To some activists at COP، oil companies are little more than climate criminals، bearing much of the responsibility for the crisis of global warming. Al Jaber argues that even as fossil fuels are phased out، oil and gas will remain part of the energy system for decades to come and making them as clean as possible helps the cause.

More than 300 climate organizations from across the world published a letter strongly criticizing the effort. It urged the COP28 presidency to drop the initiative and instead focus on securing a legally binding package to phase out all fossil fuels.

“We don’t have time to waste with more pledges and initiatives with fancy names،” said Cansin Leylim Ilgaz، associate director of global campaigns at 350.org، a movement seeking to end the use of dirty fuels. “We need a fast، fair، and equitable fossil fuel phase out that does not rely on dangerous distractions.” 

Darren Woods، the CEO of Exxon Mobil، was among industry bosses who traveled to COP to join the charter، the first time the leader of America’s largest oil company has appeared at a global climate summit. 

Challenging problem

“The good news is، with this COP there is the desire to try to bring all the constituents together to try to solve this hard، challenging problem،” Woods said in an interview.

Exxon has long resisted targets that would require it to cut production even as rivals such as Britain’s BP and France’s TotalEnergies have sought to align their business plans with global climate goals. 

This plan is more palatable because it says nothing about how fast global oil and gas production should fall. Both companies have said that the fossil fuels will remain vital to the global economy for the foreseeable future.

The signatories will also commit to almost zeroing out carbon pollution from their operations، known as scope 1 or 2 emissions، by 2050. That entirely excludes scope 3 emissions، which come from burning the fossil fuels they produce and make up the vast majority of their climate damage.

Over 120 countries back COP28 UAE Climate and Health Declaration delivering breakthrough moment for health in climate talks

The COP28 Presidency، in partnership with the World Health Organization and UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention، unveiled the ‘COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health’ to place health at the heart of climate action and accelerate the development of climate-resilient، sustainable and equitable health systems.

Finance commitments

A set of new finance commitments on climate and health was announced to back up these political commitments، including a USD 300 million commitment by the Global Fund to prepare health systems، USD 100 million by the Rockefeller Foundation to scale up climate and health solutions، and an announcement by the UK Government of up to GBP 54 million. The Declaration is announced ahead of the first ever Health Day at a COP and joins a series of announcements made during the World Climate Action Summit to keep 1.5C within reach.

Endorsed by 123 countries، the Declaration marks a world first in governments acknowledging the growing health impacts of climate change on communities and countries. It also acknowledges the large benefits to people’s health from stronger climate action، including by reducing air pollution and lowering health care costs.

For the first time، Health Ministers are attending the annual UN climate conference alongside their peers from Environment Ministries. This signals a shift in how climate policies are considered، with a stronger focus on the social implications of government decisions.

The announcement comes as annual deaths from polluted air hit almost 9 million، heat-related illness and death on the rise، and as 189 million people are exposed to extreme weather-related events each year.