COP28 president-designate urges oil, gas industry to do more against climate change

HOUSTON, March 6 (Xinhua) -- COP28 UAE President-Designate Sultan Al Jaber on Monday called for the oil and gas industry to do more in coping with the climate challenge.

"Alongside all industries, the oil and gas sector needs to up its game, do more and do it faster," Al Jaber said in a keynote address at the CERAWeek, an influential global energy forum kicking off in the U.S. city of Houston on Monday.

The 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is to be held in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) later this year. As mandated by the Paris Climate Agreement, COP28 UAE is expected to deliver the first ever global stocktake, a comprehensive evaluation of progress against climate goals.

"Only half of the industry has declared a scope 1 and 2 net-zero goal by 2050. Everyone in the industry needs to be aligned around the same goal," said Al Jaber, also chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

"With the right incentives, the right technologies, the right mindset and the right partnership model, the oil and gas industry has the capacity and the resources to help everyone address scope 3," he continued.

Power generation is the sector where the biggest impact can be made in the shortest amount of time, he said, noting that by 2030, renewable energy capacity needs to triple.

He highlighted that policies that aim to pull the plug on the existing energy system before a new one is built are a recipe for future energy crises. "As such, we have ramped up renewables as well as bringing decarbonization technologies to scale."

"Let me call on you today to decarbonize quicker, future-proof sooner and create the energy system of the future, today," he told the delegates. "Our quickest win will come from energy efficiency."

More than 7,000 participants including policymakers, industry leaders, company executives, investors and researchers from over 80 countries and regions around the world are expected to attend the five-day CERAWeek energy forum, said S&P Global, the organizer.