Read the latest insights and analysis from the experts at Oil Change International.
COP29 concluded this past weekend with a deeply flawed agreement on climate finance that plans for fossil fuel phaseout failure and has been carefully crafted by rich countries to dodge their responsibilities to pay the climate debt they owe to the Global South.
In the UK, despite hundreds of millions being spent and no commercial projects in operation, a further £25 billion has been promised in new subsidies for Carbon, Capture and Storage (CCS) and Hydrogen. This is greater than the supposed £22 billion black hole that the previous Conservative Government left the new Labour government. If Labour is looking for a quick fix to find money to fund the winter fuel allowance, they should scrap these wasteful handouts to the fossil fuel industry.
The current wave of carbon capture projects and government subsidies will only further entrench the fossil fuel industry and its impacts.
Timing, they say, is everything. Earlier this week, it was revealed that UK Government is drawing up plans to scrap its flagship EUR 11.6 billion climate pledge. At the same time, firstly last Monday, then last Tuesday and now the whole week has been recorded as the hottest on record. The UN now says "climate change is out of control."
The UK Government's windfall tax on oil companies, announced yesterday, will actually incentivise oil and gas drilling and "wreck" the UK's climate targets.
The UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee have launched a inquiry into Accelerating the transition from fossil fuels and securing energy supplies, which is scrutinising the UK Government’s Energy Security Strategy and its North Sea Transition Deal (for oil and gas production in the UK’s Continental Shelf). Oil Change International submitted the following evidence for the committee.
Five decades on from the first CCS project, the technology remains riddled with problems, unproven at scale, and not fit for purpose. It is beyond time to focus on the real solutions to the climate crisis and injustice that the fossil fuel industry has wrought. Neither CO2-rich gas or LNG qualify.
With only six months left till COP26, the UK host has work to do. Ending public finance for fossil fuel projects overseas shows potential, but the UK’s lack of action on fossil fuels domestically risks undermining its credibility.
Rich countries at this week’s Climate Summit need to take decisive action to stop the expansion of oil and gas production, both at home and abroad, both to protect the global climate and local communities. True climate leadership means breaking away from destructive oil and gas and investing in real solutions and green jobs that will help people and the planet thrive.
And so as President Biden sets to work on his programme for his first 100 days, there is increasing hope for significant on climate change rising from the toxic legacy of the Trump Administration.
