Nearly 50 oil companies in Dubai pledge to virtually eliminate methane emissions by 2030
Nearly 50 oil companies, which together account for half of global production, pledged today at the UN climate conference (COP28) in Dubai to achieve near-zero methane emissions by 2030. They will also stop flaring surplus gas produced during extraction. The AP reported the news. A number of environmental groups immediately criticised the agreement. A letter signed by more than 300 groups says the commitment is „a smokescreen intended to obscure the fact that we must phase out the use of oil, gas and coal“.
Methane emissions contribute significantly to global warming, so sharply reducing them could help slow the rise in temperatures. If the companies fulfil their commitments, they could reduce future warming by one tenth of a degree Celsius, according to calculations by climate scientist and Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare for the AP. That is roughly the amount by which the Earth is currently warming every five years.
Major national oil companies such as Saudi Aramco, Brazil’s Petrobras and Angola’s Sonangol, as well as multinational companies such as Shell, TotalEnergies and BP, have joined the commitment.
Measures concerning methane were discussed for months before COP28. Methane leaks and the flaring of surplus gas from extraction contribute to climate change, but this practice can largely be eliminated using existing technologies and by changing operating procedures.
Methane escaping during oil and natural gas extraction accounts for just 23 percent of global methane emissions, with a larger share coming from agriculture and waste management, climate scientist Bill Hare pointed out. If implemented, he said, the agreement would make „a significant, but not decisive, contribution“ to keeping the average temperature rise below 1.5 degrees compared with the pre-industrial era. To keep the world within this limit, he said, emissions of carbon dioxide must be cut by about 40 percent and methane emissions by about 60 percent by 2030.
Translation disclaimer
This article is a machine translation of the Czech original and has not yet been fully reviewed. In case of any doubt, please refer to the Czech version.
