• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
BREAKING: No Public Finance for East Coast LNG Projects, Wilkinson Says July 4, 2022
‘Climate Math Gets Harder’ as Radicalized Supreme Court Upends U.S. Carbon Regulation July 4, 2022
Dire Living Conditions, Climate-Driven Heat Wave Produce Deadliest Human Smuggling Event in U.S. History July 4, 2022
Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta June 29, 2022
London Becomes Biggest City to Sign Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty June 29, 2022
Next
Prev
Home Climate News Network

Fossil fuel industry must halt expansion

October 10, 2016
Reading time: 3 minutes
Primary Author: Terry Macalister

Protests against the Lancashire fracking project that the UK government has just approved.

Protests against the Lancashire fracking project that the UK government has just approved.

 

Analysis of fossil fuel projects shows that prospecting for new coal, oil and gas has to stop to prevent the planet overheating.

LONDON, 10 October, 2016 − Governments need to call an immediate halt to new coal, oil and gas projects if the world is to meet its climate change targets, a new report concludes.

The expected carbon emissions resulting from existing mines and oil and gas fields could amount to 941 billion tonnes – almost 100 million tonnes above the target that underpinned last year’s Paris climate agreement.

The analysis by the campaign group Oil Change International, based on data provided by independent oil and gas consultancy Rystad Energy, is a direct challenge to countries such as the UK, which has just pushed through plans for new onshore fracking for shale gas in Lancashire, northwest England.

The warning comes just after 31 countries joined the US and China to ratify the climate change agreement at a ceremony in New York.

Major contradiction

The UK has said it will also ratify the deal before the end of this year, but Oil Change International says its latest analysis points up a major contradiction.

“If the world is serious about achieving the goals agreed in Paris, governments have to stop the expansion of the fossil fuel industry,” says Stephen Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International. “The industry has enough carbon in the pipeline – today − to break through the sky’s limit.”

Greg Muttitt, author of The Sky’s Limit, a new report that contains the analysis, argues that previous studies on carbon budgets have focused on the burning of fossil fuels, but his analysis concentrates on what these budgets mean for the supply of fossil fuels in the first place.

It is the first time a study has looked at current fossil fuel extraction operations and made the logical conclusions based on climate science, he claims.

“Once an extraction operation is underway, it creates an incentive to continue so as to recoup investment and create profit, ensuring the product – the fossil fuels – are extracted and burned,” Muttitt says.

“These incentives are powerful, and the industry will do whatever it takes to protect their investments and keep drilling. This is how carbon gets ‘locked-in’.

“It is not too late.  It’s still possible to go another way. With a properly-managed decline of the industry, we can replace the fossil fuels with renewables quickly enough to meet our energy needs and climate goals.

“Perhaps more importantly, we can do so in a way that protects workers, communities and the climate.”

“If the world is serious about achieving the goals agreed in Paris, governments have to stop
the expansion of the fossil fuel industry”

The Paris Agreement accepts that global warming must be kept at “well below” 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels, and under 1.5°C if at all possible.

There has been moratorium on new coal mines in China and elsewhere, but many countries have been following a twin track approach – taking action against climate change, but also increasing hydrocarbon use and production.

There has been a massive increase in US shale oil and gas output over the last five years, even while President Barack Obama takes steps to lower the country’s carbon emissions.

Norway is also a leader in “green” initiatives promoting hydro-electricity and electric cars, while still encouraging offshore oil and gas exploration.

Hard choices

The pace of new hydrocarbon projects worldwide has slowed over the last two years. but this is largely driven by low crude oil prices.

The Oil Change report says there is still $14 trillion of projected investment in new mines, fields and pipeline infrastructure planned by industry and government.

The report lists examples some of the biggest projects around the world that cannot go ahead – in the US, Canada, Australia, and Russia. It says governments will need to make hard choices about the phase-out of existing projects, and the report recommends this should start in the developed world.

May Boeve, executive director of the 350.org campaign group, says the analysis must be taken seriously.

“Our institutions must heed this warning and divest from this industry,” May warns. “And if our leaders are serious about keeping their promises made in the Paris Agreement, they now have to say ‘no’ to every new fossil fuel infrastructure project that comes across their desk. That carbon must be kept in the ground.” – Climate News Network



in Climate News Network

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

stux / Pixabay
Air & Marine

Big Seven European Airlines Lag on Reducing Sky-High Emissions: Report

June 13, 2022
76
Ars Electronica/flickr
Solar

Unique ‘Smartflower’ Microgrid to Power Saskatchewan High School

June 13, 2022
155
http://midwestenergynews.com/2013/10/24/as-pipeline-concerns-mount-a-renewed-focus-on-the-great-lakes-enbridge-mackinac-line-5/
Pipelines / Rail Transport

Line 5 Closure Brings Negligible Rise in Gas Prices, Enbridge Consultant Finds

June 10, 2022
206

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

opinion polling gender green recovery climate action

Conservative Women Far More Likely Than Men to Support Green Transition, EcoAnalytics Research Finds

July 4, 2022
46
U.S. Navy/picryl

Montreal to Host New NATO Climate Centre as Military Analyst Confronts Global ‘Hyperthreat’

July 4, 2022
45
Wikimedia Commons

BREAKING: No Public Finance for East Coast LNG Projects, Wilkinson Says

July 4, 2022
43
angela n./flickr

‘Climate Math Gets Harder’ as Radicalized Supreme Court Upends U.S. Carbon Regulation

July 4, 2022
40
Maurits90/Wikimedia Commons

San Francisco Commuter Train Derailed by Scorching Track Temperatures, Extreme Heat

July 4, 2022
30
Keith Hirsche

Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta

July 3, 2022
457

Recent Posts

EdmondMeinfelder/flickr

Dire Living Conditions, Climate-Driven Heat Wave Produce Deadliest Human Smuggling Event in U.S. History

July 4, 2022
17
Adrian Grycuk/Wikimedia Commons

Youth Climate Case Moves to Top Tribunal in European Court

July 4, 2022
20
Seci/wikimedia commons

Saudi Aramco Talks Net-Zero, Plans to Boost Production Through 2035

July 4, 2022
11
Keith Weller/Wikimedia Commons

U.S. Methane Plan Gives Big Ag a Free Pass

July 4, 2022
13
Fadi Hage/wikimedia commons

Indoor Farming Revolution Comes with Significant Carbon Cost

July 4, 2022
16
Mont SUTTON snow terrain

Southern Quebec Towns Scramble for Solutions as Water Sources Dwindle

July 4, 2022
21
Next Post

UK Could See Mini-Nukes by 2030

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}