Oil companies attending climate talks have minimal green energy transition plans, AP analysis finds
Oil and gas companies have a large presence at international climate talks aimed at getting the world to sharply reduce emissions, which lead to climate change
In 2022, Brazilian oil and gas company Petrobras had 68 places staked out for oil exploration off the South American coast, searching for new reserves while spending $6.9 billion in oil development projects. About the same time, Algeria-based Sonatrach proclaimed its ambition to ramp up production to become a top five national oil company by 2030. And Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. opened 68 new gas stations in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, noting in its 2022 annual report that there were now more than 500 across the UAE.
All these companies, along with 33 others focused on oil and gas, sent delegations to Egypt for last year's annual climate summit, known as COP27, aimed at moving the world away from the burning of fossil fuels like oil and gas. Many will likely be at the upcoming conference, COP28, being hosted in the UAE, which appointed Sultan al-Jaber, chairman of the nation’s oil company, as president of the summit.
Faced with criticism about their presence at negotiations, leaders of such companies argue they are part of the transition to renewable energies, an argument that negotiators like U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry have cautiously endorsed. But an Associated Press review of how much these companies invest in green energies, along with the priorities laid out in their annual reports, cast doubts on genuine commitments to transition.
Most companies only have small, if any, investment in solar or wind power, the most established green technologies. Most of their investments, billions of dollars, are in further exploration, extraction and
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