Empty Promises: Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter masks massive fossil fuel expansion in 2024
Big oil and gas companies’ voluntary “Decarbonization Charter,” launched at COP28, is a dangerous distraction from the urgent need to rapidly phase out fossil fuels. New data shows Charter members have approved massive oil and gas expansion plans since signing on.
In December 2023, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, 50 oil and gas companies launched the “Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter” (the Charter), a voluntary pledge attempting to frame themselves as part of the energy transition. Fifty-four oil and gas producing companies have now signed on. When the Charter was launched, over 300 civil society organizations warned that it was a “dangerous distraction.” The Charter fails to address the vast majority of member companies’ climate impact, which occurs from the burning of the oil and gas they produce.
The scientific evidence is clear that there is no room for new oil, gas, or coal extraction beyond existing fields and mines, and that oil and gas production must fall immediately and swiftly, to hold global temperature rise to the agreed 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C) limit. Far from heeding this science, our data analysis shows that, in 2024, Charter member companies have approved massive oil and gas expansion plans.
Key Findings:
- Charter member companies approved 68 new oil and gas fields and field expansions from January through September 2024 – amounting to 14 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) of new oil and gas reserves approved for extraction and a projected commitment of almost USD 250 billion in new oil and gas expenditure.
- Burning all the oil and gas in these newly approved fields would release nearly 5 billion metric tonnes of carbon-dioxide (CO2) pollution – roughly equal to the United States’ total carbon emissions for an entire year.
- Ten companies are responsible for over 90 percent of new reserves approved by Charter members in 2024, led by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Saudi Aramco, Petrobras, TotalEnergies, and Shell.
- Despite accounting for less than 40 percent of global oil and gas production, the Charter’s signatory companies together account for 65 percent of all new oil and gas reserves approved globally in 2024.
- Charter companies are forecast to cumulatively produce 17 percent more oil and gas by 2030 than in 2023. In contrast, the International Energy Agency’s 1.5ºC-aligned energy pathway shows global oil and gas production must decline by close to 20 percent by 2030.
The first step to transition away from fossil fuels is to stop approving new production. One year in, the Charter’s voluntary pledges have done nothing to address this imperative. Instead, member companies have doubled down on oil and gas expansion. To align with 1.5°C energy pathways, governments and companies must put an immediate end to fossil fuel expansion and ensure a rapid phaseout of all fossil fuel production, with some fields closed early, alongside just transition measures to protect workers and communities.