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Being a “leader” among laggards doesn’t cut it when we’re in a climate emergency – a crisis that the oil and gas industry has done the most to cause.

As governments begin to unveil trillions of dollars in recovery support and stimulus, now is the time to break old habits – such as the USD 77 Billion in public money that the G20 is still spending annually to finance oil, gas, and coal projects.

The current crisis is a clear warning sign that, if governments leave the “when” and “how” of the end of oil and gas up to tumultuous markets, the outcome will not be good for either people or the planet.

OCI is producing weekly news and resources updates for allies as part of our response to the COVID-19 crisis.

It’s time for BP and all oil companies to stop hiding behind net-zero rhetoric and commit to immediate action on the scale of the crisis we’re in.

António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, opened this year's climate change talks with a rousing speech, stating: “Do we really want to be remembered as the generation that buried its head in the sand, that fiddled while the planet burned?”

"There is no sign of a slowdown, let alone a decline, in greenhouse gases concentration in the atmosphere despite all the commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change".

Trump's actions may make Big Oil Executives richer in the short term, but they make all of us poorer in the long-term. In the meantime, the U.S. remains a land on fire, a land that cannot breathe. And a land being led by a fossil fool.

Last week we released a report outlining why Denmark can’t be a climate leader if it expands North Sea oil and gas production as planned.

For the IEA, real scenario reform will require more than risky emissions accounting tricks that punt the burden and costs of reducing emissions to future generations.