Carbon capture: The oil lobby’s Trojan horse at COP28?
Carbon capture will be a hot topic at this year’s COP28. Oil and gas companies say it’s a solution to the climate crisis - reducing emissions by removing carbon from the air, during industrial processes or when producing electricity.
The problem is, it doesn’t work at scale. Over 80% of projects that have been proposed globally have flopped, and currently carbon capture technologies are mainly used to extract more oil.
Ultimately, carbon capture is much more likely to safeguard the future of the fossil fuel industry than it is to safeguard humanity. It’s being used as a get-out-of-jail-free card to drill for more fossil fuels and to divert attention from scaling real solutions to climate change, like wind and solar power...
The carbon capture lobby has influenced international climate negotiations for some time. Carbon capture industry leaders were invited to present to international policy makers before this year’s interim talks in Bonn. At COP27, the UAE and other oil and gas-producing nations showcased their carbon capture plans inside the conference centre...
Some oil and gas companies are busily buying up or investing in carbon capture start-ups to extend the lifespan of fossil fuels. Meanwhile, they publicise carbon capture as their commitment to low carbon solutions, but are not dramatically reducing fossil fuel production. The veneer of legitimacy that COP offers is helping.
I just don’t see most countries, and certainly not the vulnerable countries, being willing to support the Cop president on this [fossil fuel energy mix using CCS] because it is a direct threat to their survival.Christiana Figueres, the UN’s ex-climate chief
One example is Occidental Petroleum’s recent purchase of Carbon Engineering Ltd for $1.1 billion. Also known as Oxy, the company’s CEO Vicki Hollub and 11 colleagues registered on the United Arab Emirates’ delegation at COP27. In March, Hollub framed carbon capture as a lifeline for the oil and gas industries, stating that direct air capture “is going to be the technology that helps to preserve our industry” and gives it “a licence to continue to operate for the 60, 70, 80 years that I think it’s going to be very much needed”, according to Climate Home News.
This August, Oxy and the UAE’s state oil company ADNOC announced a new partnership to explore carbon capture and storage projects. In 2021, BP, ADNOC and Masdar (UAE’s renewable energy company) also partnered to deliver “clean energy solutions” including exploring carbon capture in the UAE...
This calculated promotion of bad science in the name of profit undermines the very heart of the Paris Agreement and endangers those most at risk of climate impacts.