Oil companies from all over the world had promised to meet the goals that had been specified in the historic Paris climate accord. However, new research states that these oil companies are not doing anything for this cause. In fact, these oil companies are investing billions of dollars for developing new oil and gas supplies.
The study was carried out by Carbon Tracker – a non-profit financial think tank – has concluded that billions of dollars are being spent on new projects by oil companies and gas companies that do not align with the efforts that were promised to prevent the planet from rising under 2 degrees Celsius.
Andrew Grant who is a senior oil & gas analyst and author of the report, writes, ‘Every oil major is betting heavily against a 1.5?C world and investing in projects that are contrary to the Paris goals. Investors should challenge companies’ spending on new fossil fuel production. The best way to both preserve shareholder value in the transition and align with climate change goals will be to focus on low-cost projects that will deliver the highest returns.’
As per Carbon Tracker, since 2018, gas and oil companies have actually approved a total of $50-billion of investment with a high percentage of it undermining the climate targets. So far, none of the big gas and oil companies are spending any money in support of the goals that were finalized in the Paris accord. The projects include ExxonMobil’s $2.6 billion Aspen project in Canada. Then we have the $12 billion liquefied natural gas project in Canada by Shell. The next project is by BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Equinor with a total worth of $4.3 billion and known as ACG deepwater oil project in Azerbaijan.
Carbon Tracker writes, ‘ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, Total, Eni and ConocoPhillips, with Equinor, each spent at least 30% of their investment in 2018 on projects that are inconsistent with a 1.6?C world. The report found projects already sanctioned by the oil and gas industry will take the world beyond a 1.5?C warming pathway.’
Apart from the environmental impact that these projects will create, they will also be placing the investors at risk. How? According to Carbon Tracker, these investment decisions are relying on the existing policies pertinent to emissions and not on the low-carbon ones thus placing the gas and oil companies at risk of wasting $2.2 trillion by 2030.
