At the COP27 climate talks, an alliance committed to prohibiting new domestic oil and gas drilling welcomed Portugal as a member, but big fossil fuels producers stayed away as the world reeled from energy turmoil caused by the Ukraine war.
Although none of its members have significant production, the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) presents itself as a club of first movers to phase out.
It also includes Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Ireland, Sweden, and Wales, as well as Greenland, Washington State, and the Canadian province of Quebec.
Fossil fuels will stay, one way or another
Denmark, the group’s leader, acknowledged this year’s renewed focus on energy security, as disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen countries racing to buy non-Russian gas and, in some cases, burning more coal to replace plummeting Russian gas deliveries.
Dan Jorgensen, Denmark’s acting climate and energy minister commented that our climate leadership is put to the test in a variety of ways over the last year.
We are not advocating for a sudden disruption in energy supplies, but we must acknowledge that the energy crisis is being driven by our reliance on fossil fuels, he said.
The alliance also stated that it will begin providing analysis and advice to developing countries on policies to transition away from fossil fuel production, with a $10 million budget set aside for this purpose.
The world is to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid its worst consequences. Thus, no new oil and gas fields should be developed. This is the opinion of the International Energy Agency.
Another coalition aimed at limiting fossil fuel support has struggled to grow this year.
Ending of public financing for fossil fuel projects
At last year’s COP26 climate summit, nearly 40 countries, including the United States, Canada, and Germany, committed to ending public financing for fossil fuel projects abroad by the end of 2022.
Countries involved have since attempted to gain support from Norway and Australia, but have so far been unsuccessful, despite the fact that both are discussing the idea.
On Tuesday, Nepal becomes a new member at the COP27 summit.
Efforts to recruit more members to the group have been extremely frustrating, a UK official told the media.
Since signing the pledge last year, Denmark, Finland, France, and Sweden have joined Britain in incorporating the commitment into their domestic policies, which the official described as “hard-won progress” in light of energy supply concerns.
We haven’t seen any significant backsliding across the board. They all said they were still moving forward.