….a sneak peek at COP26 Intrigues; any hope for Africa?
By Ikenna Omeje, Jerome Onoja
The effects of climate change is being felt by everyone. It’s going to be more devastating for the regions that are least prepared; and Africa among others, tops that list of continents with very little adaptation and mitigation measures in place. While the leaders of oil producing nations in Africa need more time to transit from oil due to lack of capacity before the growing energy needs of a poor population, there are numerous reasons put forward by members of OPEC, its allies and coal-dependent nations. The need for Net Zero isn’t contestable but the pathway and period allowed for transition seems to be the challenge.
While climate scientists have strongly advised that immediate actions be taken, the reality before the stakeholders speaks otherwise.
Is the short supply of gas across Europe and other parts of the world a deliberate ploy to influence the outcome of discussions at the forthcoming United Nations 26th Conference of Parties to take place in Glasgow, Scotland.
Should stricter measures like penalties be introduced, will the same approach be deployed to ensure sustainable support for poorer nations?
Will the UN make room for individual nations to pick later dates for achieving carbon neutrality based on their peculiarity and be allowed to follow them through?
This article tries to find answers.
Introduction
Largely due to population growth, the U.S Energy Information Administration predicts that the current world energy consumption will increase by 56% between 2010 and 2040.
Currently, our civilization consumes around 17.7 Terawatts of power taken from all sources of energy, namely oil, coal, natural gas and alternative energies such as solar, wind, hydropower and others. To paint a clearer picture of 17.7 Terawatts, a single Terawatt can power 10 billion, 100 watt bulbs at the same time!
Today, as a result of the effects of green house gas emission (GHG), there is a more serious effort to find an energy source that will not damage the environment and be more easily sustainable and therefore, cheaper. The goal is to to keep energy supplies balanced with the ever growing needs of the world’s growing population.
Climate Change scientists have identified the sources and pattern of global energy consumption as the major contributor to global warming of the earth.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), “The energy sector is the source of around three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions today and holds the key to averting the worst effects of climate change, perhaps the greatest challenge humankind has faced.”
our civilization consumes around 17.7 Terawatts of power taken from all sources of energy, namely oil, coal, natural gas and alternative energies such as solar, wind, hydropower and others.
IEA Roadmap
Furthermore, the agency also articulated several hard-line milestones that would be necessary to reach net-zero, including: no approvals of new oil and gas field development and no new coal mines or mine extensions by this year; electric vehicles reaching 60 percent of global car sales by 2030; and nearly 70 percent of global electricity generation produced from solar and wind by 2050.
In its report in May on the global pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050, IEA noted that the commitments made to date fell far short of what is required by that pathway.
“The number of countries that have pledged to achieve net-zero emissions has grown rapidly over the last year and now covers around 70 percent of global emissions of CO2. This is a huge step forward. However, most pledges are not yet underpinned by near-term policies and measures.
“Moreover, even if successfully fulfilled, the pledges to date would still leave around 22 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions worldwide in 2050. The continuation of that trend would be consistent with a temperature rise in 2100 of around 2.1°C.
“Global emissions fell in 2020 because of the Covid-19 crisis but are already rebounding strongly as economies recover. Further delay in acting to reverse that trend will put net zero by 2050 out of reach,” IEA said.
Unlike Copenhagen Accord, which did not provide political pathway on how to reach its targets, Net-zero provide political pathway on how its targets can be reached.
“Our Roadmap shows the priority actions that are needed today to ensure the opportunity of net-zero emissions by 2050 – narrow but still achievable – is not lost. The scale and speed of the efforts demanded by this critical and formidable goal – our best chance of tackling climate change and limiting global warming to 1.5 °C – make this perhaps the greatest challenge humankind has ever faced,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA Executive Director while commenting on the IEA report “Net Zero by 2050: a Road Map for the Global Energy Sector” released in May.
“The IEA’s pathway to this brighter future brings a historic surge in clean energy investment that creates millions of new jobs and lifts global economic growth. Moving the world onto that pathway requires strong and credible policy actions from governments, underpinned by much greater international cooperation.”
Fatih Birol
The May report, according to IEA, “… is the world’s first comprehensive study of how to transition to a net zero energy system by 2050 while ensuring stable and affordable energy supplies, providing universal energy access, and enabling robust economic growth. It sets out a cost-effective and economically productive pathway, resulting in a clean,
dynamic and resilient energy economy dominated by renewables like solar and wind instead of fossil fuels. The report also examines key uncertainties, such as the roles of bioenergy, carbon capture and behavioural changes in reaching net zero.”
It further noted that “a deep transformation of the way we produce and use energy would need to occur to achieve the 66% 2°C Scenario. By 2050, nearly 95% of electricity would be low-carbon, 70% of new cars would be electric, the entire existing building stock would have been retrofitted, and the CO2 intensity of the industrial sector would be 80% lower than today. The fossil fuel upstream sector may, besides the power sector, also carry risk not to recover investments. Delaying the transition by a decade while keeping the same carbon budget would more than triple the amount of investment that risks not to be fully recovered.
Different Starting and Finishing Points
According to a 2021 study by IEA, ‘Net Zero by 2050 A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector,’
“There has been a rapid increase over the last year in the number of governments pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. Net zero pledges to date cover around 70% of global GDP and CO2 emissions. However, fewer than a quarter of announced net zero pledges are fixed in domestic legislation and few are yet underpinned by specific measures or policies to deliver them in full and on time”.
The report further noted that, the majority of pledges, covering 35% of global CO2 emissions in 2020, target net zero emissions by 2050, but Finland aims to reach that goal by 2035, Austria and Iceland by 2040 and Sweden by 2045. Among others, the People’s Republic of China (hereafter China) and Ukraine have set a target date after 2050”.
It highlights the priority actions that are needed today to ensure the opportunity of net zero by 2050 – narrow but still achievable – is not lost. Considering a global view, the IEA report didn’t start allcountries in the same place or finish at the same time: advanced economies have to reach net zero before emerging markets and developing economies, and assist others in getting there.
The IEA also recognizes that the route mapped out in the report is path, not necessarily the path, and so it examines some key uncertainties, notably concerning the roles played by bioenergy, carbon capture and behavioural changes.
Without deliberate, planned and sustained efforts, the IEA report noted that the earth will surpass 2 °C and eventually have to face the resultant effect.
It said, “commitments made to date fall far short of what is required by that pathway. The number of countries that have pledged to achieve net zero emissions has grown rapidly over the last year and now covers around 70% of global emissions of CO2. This is a huge step forward. However, most pledges are not yet underpinned by near term policies and measures. Moreover, even if successfully fulfilled, the pledges to date would still leave around 22 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions worldwide in 2050. The continuation of that trend would be consistent with a temperature rise in 2100 of around 2.1 °C.
“The Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS) takes account only of specific policies that are in place or have been announced by governments. Annual energy related and industrial process CO2 emissions rise from 34 Gt in 2020 to 36 Gt in 2030 and remain around this level until 2050. If emissions continue on this trajectory, with similar changes in non energy related GHG emissions, this would lead to a temperature rise of around 2.7 °C by 2100 (with a 50% probability).
“The Announced Pledges Case (APC) assumes that all announced national net zero pledges are achieved in full and on time, whether or not they are currently underpinned by specific policies. Global energy related and industrial process CO2 emissions fall to 30 Gt in 2030 and 22 Gt in 2050. Extending this trajectory, with similar action on non energy related GHG emissions, would lead to a temperature rise in 2100 of around 2.1 °C (with a 50% probability),” IEA noted.
The scale and speed of the efforts demanded by this critical and formidable goal – our best chance of tackling climate change and limiting global warming to 1.5 °C – make this perhaps the greatest challenge humankind has ever faced,”
Dr. Xiaoli Tang
Dr. Xiaoli Tang, a Senior Economic Advisor, at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Canada opines that the transition process takes time. This she made known on the official page of IEA, citing the process of phasing out coal by Canada in Ontario.
“The phase out of coal generation in Ontario, Canada represents the largest GHG reduction initiative in North America and a significant achievement for the electricity sector. On the other hand, however, the entire effort took 12 years to complete, with $4 billion in additional costs to ratepayers. It was not a snap decision for Ontario, and should not be for other developing countries”, she said
Africa’s Miniscule GHG Emission Compared with Developed Nations
China emits more greenhouse gas than the entire developed world combined, a new report has claimed.
The research by Rhodium Group says China emitted 27% of the world’s greenhouse gases in 2019. The US was the second-largest emitter at 11% while India was third with 6.6% of emissions, the think tank said.
Also, the integrated Carbon Observation System, publishers of Global Carbon Projects 2020 reports that, as regards a major component of GHG, CO2; in 2019 China emitted 10.2 billion metric tons of CO2 — nearly twice as much as the United States (5.3 billion metric tons) — representing nearly 28% of global emission
On the contrary, in total, Africa’s CO2 emissions were just 4% of global fossil fuel emissions in 2017, or 1185 MtCO2.
Africa’s Compliance – Nigeria’s Case
Regardless of the numbers, African countries commit to their emission reduction targets, despite the lack of capacity and inadequate technologies. Recently, in its effort to mitigate the effects of climate change, Nigeria committed to planting 25 million trees in an attempt to restore 4 million hectares of forest.
Nigeria made the commitment to Paris Agreement on carbon reduction along with 196 other countries as climate change adversely impacts the world. A Carbon Brief report notes that Nigeria is part of three negotiating blocs at international climate talks. These include the G77 and China; the African group and the Coalition for Rainforest Nations. It is also a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Nigeria ratified the Paris Agreement in 2017. Through this, it pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in the year 2030, when compared to “business-as-usual” levels. This pledge rises to 45% on the condition of international support. The Nigerian President said, “On climate change Nigeria stands resolutely with the international community in observing agreed carbon emission targets which I signed in 2015. In other words, if Nigeria were to follow a “business as usual” pathway, it would expect its emissions to reach around 900m tonnes of CO2e a year by 2030. However, it has pledged to reduce this to around 720m through actions to tackle climate change. And, if it receives international support, it will try to keep its 2030 emissions to around 495m tonnes (Carbon Brief).
In the submitted updates of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) document as at August 2021, Nigeria has proposed stronger and ambitious targets than it last did in 2015 sequel to the endorsement of the Paris agreement. According to Climate Action Tracker, an independent global scientific analysis organisation tracking climate action since 2009, 84 countries have submitted new NDC targets. Of this, Nigeria is one of the five countries (China, Japan, Nigeria, South Africa and South Korea) that proposed stronger NDC targets; 17 countries submitted stronger targets, nine countries did not increase their ambitions, five proposed new targets, while 75 countries out of the 196 parties that signed the Paris pact have not updated their targets as of August 27. In the updated NDC, the Nigerian government has proposed to mitigate four greenhouse gases (GHG), namely, carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), as against the three GHG (CO2, CH4 and N2O) proposed in the previous NDC submitted.
If emissions continue on this trajectory, with similar changes in non‐energy‐related GHG emissions, this would lead to a temperature rise of around 2.7 °C by 2100 (with a 50% probability).
Natural Gas Shift, Gas Flares Conversion
A key indicator among the measures proposed by the IEA report include short term policies which align with long term commitments towards carbon reduction. The Nigeria’s National Gas Policy was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in Dec 1, 2020.
At the 2021 Petroleum Training Institute organised International Conference on Hydrocarbon Science and Technology (ICHST) pre-conference lecture, the guest speaker and Technical Adviser on Gas Business and Policy Implementation to the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Engr. Justice Derefaka assured of the commitment of the Federal Government of Nigeria to the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialization Program (NGFCP) & the National Gas Expansion Program (NGEP) as offering a Unique Opportunity, unlocking all gas molecules as “a favourable combination of solutions.”
the entire effort took 12 years to complete, with $4 billion in additional costs to ratepayers. It was not a snap decision for Ontario, and should not be for other developing countries”,
Muhammadu Buhari
The guest speaker said that consistent with Nigeria’s commitments for reduction of GHG under the Paris Climate Change Agreement the Program would reduce Nigeria’s CO2 emissions by approximately 13 million tons/year, which could be monetized under an emission credits/carbon sale programme. NGFCP is designed as an important “climate change action plan” for the nation. NGFCP is the first market-driven program undertaken on this scale globally. Bidders will have flexibility of choosing which flare site(s) to bid for, the gas price, and the end market or gas product, as well as the technology to be used.
The government’s National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP), aims at the distribution of autogas (CNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) across gas stations operated by state energy company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
“The [Muhammadu] Buhari administration is focused on developing the country’s natural gas resources, as part of the government bid to key into the global shift from crude oil to gas,” the country’s oil minister said in a statement. “The plan to develop CNG into alternative automobile fuel will also afford Nigerians cheaper, cleaner and additional fuel.”
The government hopes to get up to 1 million vehicles converted from gasoline to CNG by the end of 2021.
Africa’s biggest oil producer, however, believes it could use its huge gas resources to achieve its goal of cleaner fuel supply while aiming to complete a full gasoline fuel specification change by 2021.
NNPC estimates domestic demand for natural gas rising from current levels pf 1.5 Bcf/d to 7.4 Bcf/d by 2027.
Nigeria is currently ranked as having the 9th largest global gas reserves with over 200 Tcf, according to government estimates.
Carbon Capture and Storage Technology
In an official report of the Joint Workshop held on Carbon Capture and Storage, CO2 for enhanced oil recovery, and gas flaring reduction, by OPEC and the World Petroleum Congress at the OPEC Secretariat in Vienna, Austria, on 8–9 July 2004, the overriding message that emerged from that Workshop was that big reductions in carbon dioxide emissions are possible with the continued use of petroleum, through the application of a technology for CO2 capture and sequestration. Carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and stationary industrial sources account for more than 60 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, this CO2 can be captured and stored, and, if injected into depleting oil reservoirs, can increase recovery through an “enhanced oil recovery” (EOR) process. Thus, CO2 capture and storage and EOR present opportunities for the oil industry to participate in activities that will substantially reduce emissions, and, in the case of EOR, increase the recovery from oil fields.
Shell has said that it is investing in carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects which use a combination of technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide (CO2) deep underground. The company said they are also working with partners to find new ways of using CO2 once it has been captured, and believe CCS must play a significant role in the global climate response. CCS projects are happening around the world and the technology is proven but more projects need to be built, the company said. The company has keyed into what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said in its latest report in 2018 that the early scaling up of industry CCS is essential to achieving the stringent global warming target of 1.5 degrees Celsius. CCS technology can capture CO2 from existing power infrastructure and heavy, energy-intensive industries like cement and steel, the company said.
Companies and Emission Reduction Targets
The IEA had described its 2050 net zero target as very ambitious and needing every stakeholder to participate. While the activities of government and its policy makers go a long way, the national pathway won’t be successful without active participation from the private sector.
Engr. Justice Derefaka
“On climate change Nigeria stands resolutely with the international community in observing agreed carbon emission targets which I signed in 2015.
In that light, companies are also making commitments to net zero. But according to IEA, “most companies account for emissions and set net zero pledges based on the GHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD, 2004), but the coverage and timeframe of these pledges varies widely.
“Around 60% of pledges aim to achieve net‐zero emissions by 2050, but several companies have set an earlier deadline of 2030 or 2040,” the agency stated in its recent report on net zero.
It further added, “Around 40% of companies that have announced net zero pledges have yet to set out how they aim to achieve them. For those with detailed plans, the main options include direct emissions reductions, use of CO2 removal technologies, such as afforestation, bioenergy with carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), or direct air capture with CO2 storage, and purchasing emissions (credits generated through emissions reductions that occur elsewhere).
“ The use of offsets could be a cost‐effective mechanism to eliminate emissions from parts of value chains where emissions reductions are most challenging, provided that schemes to generate emissions credits result in permanent, additional and verified emissions reductions. However, there is likely to be a limited supply of emissions credits consistent with net‐zero emissions globally and the use of such credits could divert investment from options that enable direct emissions reductions.
Shell’s Playbook
In 2017, Shell announced a long-term ambition to reduce the Net Carbon Footprint of their energy products. In early 2019, they decided to set a Net Carbon Footprint target for 2021 of 2-3% lower than their 2016 Net Carbon Footprint level of 79 grams of carbon-dioxide (CO2) equivalent per megajoule. Within the framework of lowering their net Carbon Footprint, Shell’s strategy is to keep increasing the share of low-carbon energy products in their portfolio, such as natural gas, biofuels, electricity and hydrogen.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Joint Venture (JV) Afam VI Power Plant in Rivers State, Nigeria is a good example of economic growth and development working side by side with Carbon emissions reduction. Afam VI is a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT). It generates electricity from gas turbines and uses the waste heat to produce steam and generate additional power via a steam turbine. The design reduces the carbon emission of the plant and enhances efficiency of electricity generation. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) issued the 650-megawatt plant some 541,537 Certified Emission Reductions (CER) credits for its first crediting period between November 1 2012 and October 31, 2013. This made the plant the first energy efficiency project on power generation registered from Nigeria and also the first UN registered Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) initiative in the Shell Group (Shell Nigeria).
On the global level, Shell Aviation recently announced its ambition to produce around 2 million tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) a year by 2025.
It also aims to have at least 10% of its global aviation fuel sales as SAF by 2030.
This follows the oil and gas company’s revelation that it is to build a 820,000-tonnes-a-year biofuels facility at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park in Rotterdam.
“Currently, sustainable aviation fuel accounts for less than 0.1% of the world’s use of aviation fuel. We want to help our customers use more SAF,” said Anna Mascolo, President of Shell Aviation. “With the right policies, investments and collaboration across the sector we can accelerate aviation’s progress towards net zero by 2050.
“Last week we announced that we have taken a final investment decision for a new biofuels plant at our Rotterdam Energy and Chemicals Park. Shell also offers certified nature-based carbon credits to offset emissions, and we are exploring other ways to help aviation get to net zero, including hydrogen power.”
The announcement came as Shell published two reports looking at how the aviation sector can accelerate its progress towards decarbonisation.
Total/NAPIMS Monetize Carbon Credit
The General Manager of National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Bala Wunti, announced that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, working with Total Nigeria, was able to market and monetize Nigeria’s carbon credit, earning about one million Euros for the country.
According to him, “Through our partnership with Total, we are able to market our credit position, and monetize it. And we have an overall €1 million so far.
“This is the first recorded carbon credits proceeds we are receiving on behalf of the Government of Nigeria by the partnership between NNPC and Total”.
He explained further that soon the world will know exactly what potential Nigeria can make from carbon credit as the entire industry transitions.
NGFCP is the first market-driven program undertaken on this scale globally. Bidders will have flexibility of choosing which flare site(s) to bid for, the gas price, and the end market or gas product, as well as the technology to be used.
Wunti added that the Group Managing Director of NNPC, has already “directed that we’ll do whatever we can with our partners to make sure that we monetize that credit position for the benefit of Nigerian people.
“The business model is simple, any project that allows you the opportunity to have a reduced emission, you get a positive credit for it. You accumulate this credit. You can use it in several ways, two major ways is either you use your positive carbon credit position to offset your negative position in our businesses.
Mele Kyari
Leaked UN Draft Report: the Deal Breaker
Countries have continued to lobby ahead of COP26 to ensure that stricter measures are not enforced.
The scientific “assessment report” which is prepared every six years is due to be published again this year, and the UN scientists haven’t been spared by lobbyists. Australia which stands as one of the highest exporter of coal globally, was named alongside Russia, Saudi Arabia and China as trying to remove every trace of strong recommendation to move rapidly away from fossil fuels.
BBC reports a credible leak which was released to Greenpeace movement that, UN scientists are being influenced to remove certain recommendations.
“The cache of comments and the latest draft of the report were released to Greenpeace UK’s team of investigative journalists, Unearthed, which passed it on to BBC News.”
For Africa and developing economies, at the least, these benchmarks postulated by IEA seem overly ambitious and abrupt with the potential to plunge the continent further into poverty if unassisted.
The report further stated, “A senior scientist from India’s Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, which has strong links to the Indian government, warns coal is likely to remain the mainstay of energy production for decades because of what they describe as the “tremendous challenges” of providing affordable electricity. India is already the world’s second biggest consumer of coal.
“One senior Australian government official rejects the conclusion that closing coal-fired power plants is necessary, even though ending the use of coal is one of the stated objectives the COP26 conference.
While Saudi Arabia is the one of the largest oil producers in the world, Australia is a major coal exporter.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, requests the UN scientists delete their conclusion that “the focus of decarbonisation efforts in the energy systems sector needs to be on rapidly shifting to zero-carbon sources and actively phasing out fossil fuels”.
Again, several oil producing countries showed support for carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology but the UN scientist think differently.
They noted that, “there is large ambiguity in the extent to which fossil fuels with CCS would be compatible with the 2C and 1.5C targets” as set out by the Paris Agreement.
Failing Commitment to Climate Finance
Speaking on, “Global Oil Market Dynamics in a Decarbonizing World” at the Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG) 2021, the OPEC Secretary-General, Mohammad Barkindo, stressed the need for more dialogues and more cooperation in an inclusive fashion.
“The achievement of the net-zero 2050 goals would assume that developing countries will receive the required financing and technological know-how they require to build and readjust their energy systems in line with the net-zero ambitions by 2050,” Barkindo noted.
“However, climate financing for adaptation and mitigation is an extremely complex process, and questions continue to be raised as to how the $100 billion per year committed in the Paris Agreement will be secured, much less the even more ambitious $5 trillion annual funding needed globally as set out by the net-zero 2050 plan.
Mohammad Barkindo
“Around 60% of pledges aim to achieve net‐zero emissions by 2050, but several companies have set an earlier deadline of 2030 or 2040,”
“According to the United Nations fact check on climate change, Africa is the continent most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
“Another issue of concern is that climate financing is increasingly being administered as loans, which means that developing countries are required to borrow at interest rates that can sometimes be prohibitively high, effectively leading them to defer or cancel their clean energy projects.
“These important factors all point to the fact that an energy transition on such a massive scale and within such a short timeframe will take time and patience to achieve, especially if it is done responsibly, in an equitable and inclusive manner.”
Dire Consequence of Under-investing in Oil
Moody, a credit rating agency, in a report carried by Bloomberg recently, estimates that global annual upstream spending needs to increase by as much as 54 percent to $542 billion if the oil market is to avert the next supply shortage shock.
Currently, oil exploration and production (E&P) companies around the world are underinvesting in supply as they continue to keep capital expenditure (capex) low after the 2020 price crash and crisis, Moody’s notes.
According to Moody, annual upstream investment crashed by around 30 percent in 2020 and has only slightly recovered since. The current drop in investment is not also unconnected with harsh policies of governments in various countries, in a bid to discourage more exploration and Production of fossil fuels.
OPEC, a group of some of the world’s largest producers, said recently that the world is projected to require $11.8 trillion in oil-and-gas investment through 2045 to meet growing demand.
In 2020, Barkindo said oil-and-gas investment fell 20%. That came despite the industry not fully making up for a previous period of underinvestment amid low prices between 2015 and 2016. “We need to buckle up more investment in capital to revive the production cycle,” he said.
“On top of that contraction, you have the energy transition,” he said, which has added more pressure on governments and oil companies to divert money from oil-and-gas development to renewables. Mr. Barkindo said there has been “a global campaign against the oil industry to crowd out investors out of oil and gas.”
Barkindo said recommendations to cut oil-and-gas investment risk steering the conversation in Glasgow toward drastic measures that could contribute to price spikes and exacerbate energy poverty around the world.
“In our regions of the world, energy poverty is endemic,” he quipped. “Not one source of energy will meet the energy thirst in the developing world,” he said. “We hope that Glasgow will bring back this issue to the front burner. Climate and energy poverty will have to be addressed.”
The aim of the Glasgow summit should be to “contain greenhouse emissions, but not at the exclusion of any source of energy,” Mr. Barkindo said.
Conclusion:
For long, oil companies have captured carbon from their operations, only to re-inject it in order to produce more oil. However, with the mounting concerns on climate change , that technology can be improved upon and the service sold to heavy polluting industries like cement, steel and others.
Should the UN delegates come out of COP26 offering countries and fossil fuel major players the option of acquiring the CCS technology, to curb emissions from their activities within a period of time, while exploring new projects under the same conditions, then it would be a big win first for Africa who needs it most. Unfortunately, Professor Corinne le Quéré of the University of East Anglia, a leading climate scientist who has helped compile three major reports for the IPCC, has no doubts about the impartiality of the IPCC’s reports. She believes no lobbying or pressure can change the report of the scientists.
“If the comments are lobbying, if they’re not justified by the science, they will not be integrated in the IPCC reports”, she said.
“Through our partnership with Total, we are able to market our credit position, and monetize it. And we have an overall €1 million so far.
