Big oil and coal producers feel the heat as COP26 targets fossil fuels
The giant Saudi Arabian pavilion at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow is decked out with video screens that flash with solar panels and a green sculpture of the kingdom’s territory made from real moss — an attempt to burnish its environmental credentials.
It has not stopped Saudi Arabia and other hydrocarbon-producing countries such as Russia and Australia from facing a harsh spotlight at the two-week summit.
In Glasgow, fossil fuels have been a target like never before, with concerted efforts to forge coalitions of countries willing to end the use and financing of coal, oil and gas.
The phrase “fossil fuels” has not been mentioned in a UN climate summit text until now, with this year’s draft document including a proposal to end “unabated coal power” as well as “inefficient subsidies” for the industry.
The 2015 Paris accord set an aim to limit global warming to 2C, or ideally 1.5C, but made no prescription for which fuels to use, or not use, to achieve this.
Whether the phrase makes it into the final text that was still being hammered out on Friday evening — in the face of strong resistance from leading producers — it is clear that the battle over fossil fuels has been a defining feature of COP26.
In a sign of the growing pressure on fossil fuels, including from thousands of young activists who protested outside the COP26 venue on Friday, EU climate chief Frans Timmermans said in a plenary speech that the summit must “finally turn the page on coal”.
“Let’s leave Glasgow with strong action on coal power, on subsidies for fossil fuels,” he said. “Without these concrete steps, our [climate] targets will be utterly meaningless.”
The fossil fuels debate was also a sticking point at the G20 summit in Rome last month, where countries agreed to stop financing overseas coal plants but failed to address domestic coal use.
Behind the scenes in negotiating rooms at COP26, countries that produce fossil fuels have pushed back. The oil, gas, and coal sectors have also been well represented at COP26: more than 500 delegates to the summit are affiliated with fossil fuel companies or associations, according to a tally by Global Witness.
They have also changed their strategies, compared with previous COP summits. Ahead of Glasgow, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Australia all announced “net zero” emissions targets, which means cutting emissions of greenhouse gases to near zero, and compensating for remaining emissions with offsets.
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Despite these goals, some energy-producing countries have still been manoeuvring to water down the fossil fuel clauses in the final COP26 text, and acted to block or delay important elements of the negotiations, according to negotiators and observers.
“There’s been an effort to make it seem like, because they have the net zero target, they’re part of the solution,” said Jennifer Morgan, a COP summits veteran and head of Greenpeace International. “It’s part of the ‘greenwash’ that’s here.”
Saudi Arabia in particular had “stepped up” its strategies, said Morgan. “One of the permanent Saudi tactics is to bring in various procedural hurdles, so that you run out of time to have the substantive negotiations,” she said.
At the same time, others say the tide has turned, and that the negotiating power of the fossil fuel-producing countries — which often act as a bloc at COP summits — is already waning. Having the US back in the Paris pact has also reduced their influence. President Joe Biden signed back up to the accord after his predecessor Donald Trump had left it.
“I think the turning point has come . . . at this forum,” said Teresa Ribera, Spain’s vice-president and a respected COP negotiator. “There’s a strong feeling that they can’t be influential any more.”
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, made a personal appearance at COP26 to underscore that “energy security” — a reference to oil and gas production — should not be sacrificed for climate change. “It’s imperative we recognise the diversity of climate solutions . . . without any minds towards or against any particular source of energy,” he said in a speech.
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Privately, negotiators say that Russia and Saudi Arabia are concerned about establishing a precedent for UN texts that target specific fuel types.
“We really put our necks out for this,” said one UK official, referring to the clause on fossil fuels. “They don’t like it because it does set a different kind of precedent in the UN space.”
Efforts at COP26 to end the use of coal have met with mixed results, after the US, China, and Australia failed to sign up to a UK-led pact to phase out coal power.
A period of high energy prices ahead of the summit — combined with coal and gas shortages — also damped some countries’ enthusiasm for dramatic new energy policy measures.
Nevertheless, the new pledges made in the run-up to COP26 effectively put an “end date” on 370 coal power stations, in addition to about 380 coal plants that already had one, according to analysis published on Friday by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
A further 1,600 plants are covered by carbon neutrality targets, without a specific end date, the study found.
At Glasgow, an alliance was also launched to end new oil and gas projects, although it only attracted 23 territories and countries.
Andrea Meza, environment minister of Costa Rica who was among the signatories, backed the initiative because “the science is clear” on ending fossil fuels.
“Every dollar we invest in fossil fuels is one dollar less for renewables or the conservation of nature,” she said.
Additional reporting by Neil Hume in Glasgow
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