Growing concerns about environment pollution are forcing the largest energy companies in the world to promote liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is the cleanest burning fossil fuel, and pledge their support for a climate change agreement aimed at keeping the rise in global temperature below two degrees Celsius.
Recently, some 10 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies have vowed to support a climate change agreement at the upcoming conference in Paris in November/December.
The 2015 Paris Climate Conference, better known as COP21, will for the first time in more than 20 years of UN negotiations, aim to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C.
The UN agreement is expected to ensure governments cut planet-warming greenhouse gas pollution, which is mostly produced by burning coal, oil and gas.
Although not offering any specific time schedule, these world’s largest energy companies that represent a fifth of all oil and gas production worldwide, said they wanted to invest more in natural gas than coal and play a bigger role in renewable energy production.
Liquefied natural gas is a safe, environmentally-friendly fuel. Natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel and is being used throughout the world to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Compared to coal, natural gas produces far fewer carbon dioxide emissions and sulphur emissions. LNG is simply natural gas in a liquid state.
The top energy companies have reportedly signed up to end routine gas flaring and invest in carbon capture storage (CCS), which offers a way for fossil fuel companies to keep burning coal or gas in power stations without affecting the climate.
This means that over the coming years, these companies have committed to collectively strengthen their actions and investments to contribute to reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of the global energy mix.
But the energy group’s promises were met with cynicism by some environmental groups, who said these companies were attempting to soften their image by supporting the Paris conference but were failing to offer concrete change.
“To have credibility, any initiative such as this must come up with more than warm words. It must set out concrete and quantitative commitments to take action,” said Anthony Hobley, chief executive of the Carbon Tracker Initiative.
Global leaders are also pushing for a climate change agreement, which they say is inevitable to save the planet from what many term a potential environmental catastrophe.
Many leaders who attended the Sustainable Development Summit and the UN General Assembly Debate in New York recently echoed this.
Leaders discussed how Paris agreement must be a decisive turning point in the world’s collective response to the climate challenge initiative.
And there seems to be a collective sense that a durable agreement will enhance investments in clean energy and spur a global, low-carbon transformation, well before the end of the century.