The chief executives of 10 large oil and gas companies have agreed to collaborate on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, calling for an international agreement on climate change at the “COP21” summit next December in Paris.
In a “joint collaborative declaration,” members of the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative said they have lowered GHG emissions from operations by a collective 20% over the past 10 years and continue to invest in natural gas, carbon capture and storage (CCS), renewable energy, and research.
“However, neither our contributions nor those of any one industrial sector alone will be enough to address the challenge of climate change,” their declaration said. “It can only be met by each part of society making an appropriate contribution.”
At the Paris meeting, held under auspices of the United National Environmental Program, world leaders will seek agreement on steps to lower emissions thought to be enough to keep globally averaged temperature from rising more than 2°C. above preindustrial levels.
The declaration noted a dual challenge to governments of allowing energy supply to grow as needed and of lowering GHG emissions.
“It is our hope that COP21 will help to overcome these challenges and put us on a progressive pathway for addressing climate change,” it said.
Signatories represent BG Group, BP, Eni, Pemex, Reliance Industries Ltd., Repsol, Shell, Saudi Aramco, Statoil, and Total.
They committed to collaborate, “with the aim of going beyond the sum of our individual efforts,” in these areas:
• Efficiency of energy use in operations and in end use of their products.
• Natural gas, including raising the gas share of global energy use.
• “Long-term solutions,” such as investing in research, supporting public-private partnerships to advance CCS, and boosting the energy-market share of renewable energy.
• Energy access.
• Partnerships and “multistakeholder initiatives” to “accelerate climate change solutions.”