GLOBAL POLICY
The Paris climate goals demand a rapid, just transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. We’re pushing governments to lead the way by adopting policies to end oil and gas production.
OVERVIEW OF WORK
In order to achieve climate goals, governments and other decision makers must support a just and equitable move away from fossil fuels. We are pushing for precedent-setting leadership from governments to put policies in place to manage the decline of oil and gas and ensure a just transition for fossil-fuel dependent workers and communities.
Building from a growing group of first mover governments, we are pressuring for increasing numbers of national and regional governments to end new licenses and permits for oil and gas production, and to develop plans to wind down their existing production over time.
LATEST PROGRAM POSTS
There are signs that there is a growing diplomatic row between the US and Russia over energy and trade. The Times has reported how “American oil companies Chevron and ConocoPhillips could be shut out of a massive Arctic gas project in a sharp chilling of trade relations between Moscow and Washington”.
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is aiming to turn his country into a biofuel superpower using ethanol and biodiesel. But environmentalists are warning that this could trigger a massive expansion of the agricultural frontier deeper into the Amazon, destroying habitat and biodiversity.
The British government has now waded into the spat between Russia and Shell over its $20bn Sakhalin-2 energy project, suggesting a diplomatic row could be brewing.
Downing Street, is said to be following events “very closely” and says: “The government is raising its concerns about the decision with the Russian government". The US state department is also said to be concerned about developments in Sakhalin.
US companies are thinking of moving back into the Libyan oil and gas market. US private equity giant Carlyle is in talks to acquire Libya's state-controlled oil refining and marketing operation, Tamoil. Al-Saadi Gaddafi, the son of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has confirmed that Carlyle is one of four or five groups involved in an international tender to buy 100 per cent of Tamoil – estimated worth €3bn.
LATEST PROGRAM RESEARCH
This new report, “Public Enemies: Assessing MDB and G20 international finance institutions’ energy finance” looks at G20 country and MDB traceable international public finance for fossil fuels from 2020-2022 and finds they are still backing at least USD 47 billion per year in oil, gas, and coal projects.
This briefing assesses Shell’s fossil fuel extraction plans in light of Shell's appeal of a Dutch court verdict requiring the company to take responsibility for its climate pollution. Our analysis shows that Shell continues to plan for levels of oil and gas production and investment that undermine the world’s chances of curtailing climate disaster.
The countries that produce oil and gas from the North Sea (Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark) rank among the countries with the greatest economic capacity and responsibility to rapidly phase out extraction, and to finance just transitions to renewable energy solutions domestically and abroad.