Let the melodrama begin.The hype machine ahead of the United Nation’s climate confab in Dubai is heading into hyperdrive after a report from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) that calls the global oil and gas industry socially irresponsible corporate custodians of the planet’s future well-being.That’s because oil and gas companies account for less than 1% of so-called ‘clean energy’ investment globally despite producing more than half of the world’s primary energy supply, it said ahead of the COP28 summit next week.If the world has any hope of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C under that Paris Agreement — which is presumably why global elites are jetting to Dubai in the first place — oil and gas use would have to fall 75% by 2050, it said.“The oil and gas industry is facing a moment of truth at COP28 in Dubai. With the world suffering the impacts of a worsening climate crisis, continuing with business as usual is neither socially nor environmentally responsible,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in the preamble. “Oil and gas producers around the world need to make profound decisions about their future place in the global energy sector. The industry needs to commit to genuinely helping the world meet its energy needs and climate goals, which means letting go of the illusion that implausibly large amounts of carbon capture are the solution.”.“Together we will prove the doubters and the naysayers wrong. Alberta will not be left behind by the global energy transition,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.That’s the narrative in a nutshell Canada’s Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault will be taking with him when the confab starts November 30 — along with the prospect of even more punitive policy measures such as an emissions cap on Alberta’s oil production.The Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) has consistently used the IEA numbers to inform federal policies with respect to achieving net-zero by 2050.And it’s also precisely the reason Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will be leading a robust delegation of her own to COP28 to counter that narrative. She’s repeatedly said Ottawa “can’t be trusted” to represent Alberta’s interests at big international gatherings.Speaking at the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary this September, Smith — and the Saudis — dismissed the IEA numbers as both unrealistic and politically motivated. In fact, Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud called them dangerous and would result in a dangerous energy crisis if pursued..That hasn’t stopped Guilbeault, who has a habit of making unannounced policy pronouncements on the fly to impress his likeminded colleagues in foreign nations. And he has vowed to not only roll out an emissions cap before the end of the year, but has also dropped hints that it should come before the summit. That sets the stage for a potentially contentious showdown of wills in Dubai, where Smith is expected to roll out Alberta’s plans for carbon capture and storage — which the IEA report calls illusory.The report notes carbon capture, currently the linchpin of many firms’ — and Canada’s — transition strategies, “cannot be used to maintain the status quo.”If oil and natural gas consumption were to evolve as projected under today’s policy settings, limiting the temperature rise to 1.5°C would require an entirely “inconceivable” 32 billion tonnes of carbon captured for utilization or storage by 2050, including 23 billion tonnes via direct air capture. “The amount of electricity needed to power these technologies would be greater than the entire world’s electricity demand today.”
Let the melodrama begin.The hype machine ahead of the United Nation’s climate confab in Dubai is heading into hyperdrive after a report from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) that calls the global oil and gas industry socially irresponsible corporate custodians of the planet’s future well-being.That’s because oil and gas companies account for less than 1% of so-called ‘clean energy’ investment globally despite producing more than half of the world’s primary energy supply, it said ahead of the COP28 summit next week.If the world has any hope of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C under that Paris Agreement — which is presumably why global elites are jetting to Dubai in the first place — oil and gas use would have to fall 75% by 2050, it said.“The oil and gas industry is facing a moment of truth at COP28 in Dubai. With the world suffering the impacts of a worsening climate crisis, continuing with business as usual is neither socially nor environmentally responsible,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in the preamble. “Oil and gas producers around the world need to make profound decisions about their future place in the global energy sector. The industry needs to commit to genuinely helping the world meet its energy needs and climate goals, which means letting go of the illusion that implausibly large amounts of carbon capture are the solution.”.“Together we will prove the doubters and the naysayers wrong. Alberta will not be left behind by the global energy transition,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.That’s the narrative in a nutshell Canada’s Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault will be taking with him when the confab starts November 30 — along with the prospect of even more punitive policy measures such as an emissions cap on Alberta’s oil production.The Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) has consistently used the IEA numbers to inform federal policies with respect to achieving net-zero by 2050.And it’s also precisely the reason Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will be leading a robust delegation of her own to COP28 to counter that narrative. She’s repeatedly said Ottawa “can’t be trusted” to represent Alberta’s interests at big international gatherings.Speaking at the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary this September, Smith — and the Saudis — dismissed the IEA numbers as both unrealistic and politically motivated. In fact, Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud called them dangerous and would result in a dangerous energy crisis if pursued..That hasn’t stopped Guilbeault, who has a habit of making unannounced policy pronouncements on the fly to impress his likeminded colleagues in foreign nations. And he has vowed to not only roll out an emissions cap before the end of the year, but has also dropped hints that it should come before the summit. That sets the stage for a potentially contentious showdown of wills in Dubai, where Smith is expected to roll out Alberta’s plans for carbon capture and storage — which the IEA report calls illusory.The report notes carbon capture, currently the linchpin of many firms’ — and Canada’s — transition strategies, “cannot be used to maintain the status quo.”If oil and natural gas consumption were to evolve as projected under today’s policy settings, limiting the temperature rise to 1.5°C would require an entirely “inconceivable” 32 billion tonnes of carbon captured for utilization or storage by 2050, including 23 billion tonnes via direct air capture. “The amount of electricity needed to power these technologies would be greater than the entire world’s electricity demand today.”
