MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Governments at COP26 create group to rid world of fossil fuels

”Our goal is not small, our ambition is not modest,” said Jørgensen

A group of countries and territories led by Denmark and Costa Rica have decided to join forces with regards to a world free from fossil fuels in compliance with the 2015 Paris Agreement under a group named “the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA).”

The announcement was made in Glasgow, as the UN's Climate COP26 Summit nears its end. In addition to the inspiring countries, BOGA also has the following full members: France, Greenland, Ireland, Quebec, Sweden and Wales. The alliance has pledged to phase out the production of oil and gas, for which they must still set a target date. Portugal, California and New Zealand have also joined the alliance as associate members.

Italy also expressed its support to the coalition by becoming a “Friend of BOGA” and negotiations are underway to bring on new members to the group. Announcements on this issue were expected to be made shortly,

Each member will commit to ending new licensing rounds for oil and gas exploration and production. They must also set an end date for oil and gas production and exploration that is aligned with the Paris Agreement objectives.

“Our goal is not small, our ambition is not modest,” said Dan Jørgensen, Denmark's Minister for Climate, Energy, and Utilities. “We hope that today will mark the beginning of the end of oil and gas,” he added.

“We the 11 founding governments have decided to move beyond oil and gas,” the minister went on.
“We don't answer this call for the thrill of the challenge. We do it because we truly believe that we need to. We are unwilling to accept the consequences if we don't,” Jørgensen also explained.

BOGA is said to have been devised to fill a gap at the UN climate summit, whose draft final declaration makes only a brief mention of fossil fuels, despite their pivotal role in Earth's climate crisis. The group's full members are not to authorize new licenses or concessions for exploration and production of oil and gas and to set a date to end extraction in territories under their jurisdiction.

BOGA's founding document states that climate commitments were being “undermined by current and planned production of fossil fuels”, which would need to fall between 3% (natural gas) and 4% (oil) per year by 2030, and at higher rates from then, to ensure maximum global warming of 1.5ºC this century from pre-industrial levels.”

“The current plans of the governments, however, point to an increase of 2% per year in the production of fossil fuels. In 2030, this would result in more than twice the production consistent with the 1.5ºC limit,” BOGA said.

In addition, the International Energy Agency says that demand for oil and natural gas needs to fall 75% and 55%, respectively, between 2020 and 2050 to ensure the goal of zero CO2 emissions by mid-century. “This means that we do not need any new oil and gas fields other than those already approved until 2021.”