Fifty oil and gas companies representing more than 40% of global oil production agreed at COP28 to reduce their carbon and methane emissions, the COP presidency said Dec. 2.
Signatories to the new Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter include 30 national oil companies, such as Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil. That represents a record number of state oil companies committing to decarbonization, COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber said in the announcement.
The companies agreed to reduce their carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 and curb upstream methane emissions to near-zero by 2030. The agreement is part of a Global Decarbonization Accelerator also launched at COP28 to focus on three pillars: renewables and other future energy systems; the fossil fuel sector and emission-intensive industries; and methane. None of the producers agreed to reduce hydrocarbon production.
Lindsey Stewart, director of investment stewardship research for Morningstar, said in an emailed statement that COP28 "continues to be dominated by unresolved issues of years past" that include phasing out or down the use of fossil fuel energy. "We're seeing the arguments being played out in stark fashion with this year's COP being held in oil-rich Dubai with a huge presence of energy industry lobbyists," Stewart said, but one high point so far is consensus on tackling methane emissions.
On Dec. 2 at COP28, U.S. officials unveiled final rules to control U.S. oil and gas industry releases of methane. New policies from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would ban routine flaring of natural gas by newly drilled oil wells and require oil companies to monitor for leaks, among other changes.
ExxonMobil's decision in late November to join the U.N.'s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership where companies measure and report on methane emissions "will be seen as a victory for stewardship activities on the part of sustainability conscious asset managers," Stewart said, noting that in April the ExxonMobil board rejected a shareholder resolution requesting such reporting.
