GLOBAL INDUSTRY
The science says we need to keep fossil fuels in the ground to meet climate goals. We’re pushing back against industry spin saying otherwise.
OVERVIEW OF WORK
The oil and gas industry is on a public relations campaign to convince investors, financial regulators, and the public at large that they deserve continued support as “part of the solution” to the energy transition. Oil Change is working to challenge these narratives and provide analysis to the financial sector, movement allies, and other decision makers to support a shift away from fossil fuel finance. Further, we are working to reform international energy scenarios that currently guide investment decisions towards failure in meeting the Paris Agreement climate goals and, concurrently, are used by the oil and gas industry to justify dangerous expansion plans.
Following years of campaigning and pressure by Oil Change and others, in 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its first ever fully fledged energy scenario aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5ºC. Critically, the IEA concluded that: “There is no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply in our net zero pathway,” and, therefore, “there are no new oil and gas fields approved for development in our pathway.” We are using the IEA’s conclusion that 1.5ºC alignment means no new oil and gas fields to hold governments, companies, banks, and investors accountable to backing up ‘net zero’ commitments with an end to new oil and gas finance.
LATEST PROGRAM POSTS
Today, Oil Change International and over 150 other civil society organisations from all over the world sent an open letter to International Energy Agency (IEA) director Dr. Fatih Birol, urging him to center 1.5 degrees Celsius (ºC) in the 2021 World Energy Outlook (WEO). The IEA is due to release the WEO in one month, on October 13, 2021.
At today’s IEA-COP26 Net Zero Summit, International Energy Agency director Dr. Fatih Birol again asserted that his agency “will provide a roadmap for the world to be in line with 1.5 degrees Celsius,” yet stopped short of saying it will be central in the upcoming WEO.
The IEA is finally taking a major step towards living up to its ambition to lead the clean energy transition.
WEO 2020 is only a small step forward when the world needs a giant leap. Now the IEA has to finish the job and fix the WEO.
LATEST PROGRAM RESEARCH
New Oil Change International research shows that only 20 countries, led overwhelmingly by the United States, are responsible for nearly 90 percent of the carbon-dioxide (CO2) pollution threatened by new oil and gas fields and fracking wells planned between 2023 and 2050. If this oil and gas expansion is allowed to proceed, it would lock in climate chaos and an unlivable future.
Despite an array of new ‘net zero’ pledges released in the past two years, the climate promises of major U.S. and European oil and gas companies still fail to meet the bare minimum for alignment with the Paris Agreement, according to a new study.
This briefing gives financial institutions an overview of the IEA's first 1.5°C-aligned scenario and what it means for oil and gas. We show that the IEA's conclusion about ending new oil and gas field development is not a product of scenario design; it’s the arithmetic of 1.5°C.