At COP28, the energy industry is a key voice
Christopher Barnard
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With less than a week until the United Nations’s annual climate change conference, COP28, in Dubai, there are growing calls for more ambitious climate action from governments and companies worldwide. Repeatedly, we are hearing that we are not on track to meet our climate goals. Yet, there is a disconnect between this rhetoric and the solutions that are being pushed by climate activists.
The majority of proposed solutions to tackle climate change focus solely on expanding renewables while demonizing other technologies and industries that don’t fall into that category. This is shortsighted. While renewables will doubtlessly help accelerate pathways to a clean energy, net-zero future, broader and more inclusive action is needed to reduce emissions significantly, without sacrificing energy security or economic prosperity.
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If we are to succeed in this effort, it is necessary to recognize that renewables are not the only tool in our toolkit. Governments across the world that have rejected baseload energy sources and put all their marbles in the renewables basket are facing increasingly unreliable grids and high electricity prices. In reality, we will need an all-of-the-above energy approach that is inclusive of all stakeholders, energy sources, and technologies — from carbon capture and storage and natural gas to nuclear energy and hydrogen — to meet our climate goals.
Unfortunately, many climate activists don’t see it this way. They are instead actively seeking to exclude important stakeholders in the energy industry, in particular oil and gas companies, from COP28. The reality is that industry itself is a critical part of decarbonizing the global economy. These companies have the expertise and capital to deploy, at scale, the technologies and infrastructure necessary to reduce emissions and mitigate climate change. Even U.S. climate envoy John Kerry recently acknowledged this truth by saying: “We have to bring [the fossil fuel industry] to this effort [COP28], and they have to join in by being responsible.”
We see a similar dynamic regarding next-generation technologies such as CCS that are being spearheaded by the industry yet are often derided by climate activists who see them as simply a ploy for goodwill from oil and gas. Again, this is entirely misguided. In fact, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has clearly stated that CCS deployment is needed to mitigate climate change in a timely manner. The International Energy Agency has also reported that “reaching net zero will be virtually impossible without [CCS].” Still, climate activists reject its role in the clean energy transition altogether.
We’ve seen how, domestically, industry leadership has already reduced emissions significantly. The American economy has cut more emissions than the next eight countries combined directly as a result of the industry’s transition from coal to natural gas. That’s an indisputable win for the climate and a success story that deserves to be told. Producing more natural gas in America and around the world will further help displace coal, reducing global emissions and pollution as a result. Not to mention that widespread adoption of CCS technologies in the oil and gas industry could mean even further emissions reductions. Just last year in Texas, Net Power announced plans to build the first-ever zero-emission natural gas plant using CCS technology.
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Providing the oil and gas sector with a seat at the table at COP28 will add depth to complex discussions about decarbonizing the economy. The fact of the matter is that few are more knowledgeable on this topic than the very companies that possess the capacity and experience required to scale and deploy innovative technologies that have already significantly reduced global emissions. Efforts to bar the oil and gas sector from collaborating at COP28 threaten our ability to achieve meaningful outcomes and implement solutions to reduce global emissions.
Fundamentally, demonizing the traditional energy industry and associated technologies is an unproductive use of time and resources that distracts from achieving real solutions. Allowing all stakeholders a seat at the table at COP28 is the only truly productive approach to enabling long-term progress. If climate activists were serious about fighting climate change, they’d welcome the industry with open arms.
Chris Barnard is the president of the American Conservation Coalition. Follow him on X @ChrisBarnardDL.