Developed nations including the US, UK and Australia have been branded “hypocrites” for criticising countries that do not agree to a “phase out” of fossil fuels while continuing to develop oil and gas fields domestically.
Five out of the 10 countries responsible for the newest oil and gas fields globally have criticised Monday’s draft COP28 agreement for not going far enough on fossil fuels.
While climate campaigners joined these countries in their condemnation of the COP28 agreement, they also argued that wealthy nations, including the US and UK, should be doing more to lead by example by ending their exploitation of oil and gas domestically.
It comes as the UK faced fierce criticm after it emerged that the country’s Climate Minister, Graham Stuart, left the summit in Dubai during the final stages of negotiation, seemingly to attend the vote on the Government’s Rwanda bill. He will fly back to Dubai after the vote.
A new draft agreement from the UN climate summit sparked outrage when it was published on Monday due to a watering down of the language on fossil fuels.
An original draft of the document, which must be agreed by 198 countries, suggested nations could commit to a historic agreement to “phase out” the use of oil, gas and coal.
But the new agreement published on Monday states countries “could” reduce their carbon emissions by “reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner so as to achieve net zero by, before, or around 2050 in keeping with the science”.
The new wording prompted a major backlash from countries including the UK, US, Australia, the EU and Pacific Island states.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “This draft is disappointing and does not go far enough. The UK position is clear – there must be a phase-out of unabated fossil fuels to meet our climate goals.”
But critics have pointed out that countries such as the UK are demanding that poorer nations stop using fossil fuels, while continuing to develop new oil and gas fields domestically.
This comes despite the International Energy Agency stating that no new oil and gas fields should be developed if the world is to reach net zero by 2050.
The countries developing the most oil and gas fields
According to data analytics firm GlobalData, there are 47 countries with planned new oil and gas fields.
As of June this year, the ones with the most new oil and gas fields currently under development are:
- Russia
Russia by far has the biggest oil and gas expansion plans. The country has spoken out against the “phase-out” of fossil fuels and its environmental initiatives have been weakened since the start of its war with Ukraine.
- Brazil
Brazil currently has 18 oil and gas fields under development and the country’s President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has spoken in favour of continuing oil extraction. But the country has criticised the new draft COP agreement’s stance on fossil fuels, describing it as “completely unsatisfactory”.
- Norway
Norway has vast oil and gas reserves in the North Sea and has no plans to end fossil fuel extraction despite being one of the wealthiest countries in the world. However, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Reuters the draft text was too weak and called for a “phase down with a view to a long-term phase-out” fossil fuels.
- US
Joe Biden has been heralded for his introduction of a vast green subsidy programme since becoming US President, however his administration has also continued to issue new oil and gas licences, meaning the US is currently the biggest producer of oil and gas globally. Despite this, the US has called for a global phase out of fossil fuels and said the current draft COP text “needs to be substantially strengthened”.
- India
India is currently developing 11 oil and gas fields, but they contain comparatively little oil and gas. The country is also a major producer of coal, and played a major role in weakening the COP26 agreement between countries on the continuing use of the resource. It has not commented publicly on the latest draft agreement at COP28.
- Australia
Known for being the world’s biggest coal exporter, Australia is also pushing ahead with plans for oil and gas extraction. But Australia’s Climate Change Minister, Chris Bowen, has said the country won’t accept the new draft COP28 agreement, describing it as a “death certificate” for small island states.
- Malaysia
Oil and gas remain a key economic priority for Malaysia, with the country recently discovering new reserves. At COP28, Malaysia Climate Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad told Reuters all countries “cannot be put on the same standard when it comes to the transition”.
- China
China is currently the world’s largest oil importer and is currently developing nine oil and gas fields, while the country’s state oil companies also have extensive exploration programmes. The wording of the new draft document is broadly in line with the country’s position that it would like to see nations agree to substitute renewable energy for fossil fuels. China’s climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, has remained tight-lipped on whether the country would agree to “phase out” wording.
- UK
Despite being less economically dependent on oil and gas than other states, the UK has recently under Rishi Sunak pursued a policy of “maxing out” its fossil fuel reserves in the North Sea. However, the UK has been vocally critical of the new COP28 draft agreement and said that it supports the “phase out of unabated fossil fuels”, which means the production of fossil fuels where emissions are not mitigated by carbon capture technology.
- Nigeria
Nigeria has made significant money from oil and gas since the 60s and is the second-biggest producer in Africa behind Angola. The country has said it will not phase out fossil fuels, as they are critical to its economy and pointed to countries like the UK expanding its drilling.
“There’s a lot of hypocrisy,” Zahra Hdidou, senior climate and resilience adviser at ActionAid UK, told i.
“Most countries want this phase out and desperately need this phase out, particularly developing countries who are experiencing the worst impacts.
“But at the same time countries like the UK and the US with these huge expansion plans for oil and gas, it leads to a lack of trust among developing countries. They’re looking at what the biggest polluters are doing in terms of expansion and thinking ‘well why should we phase out when you’re continuing to have these huge expansion plans?’”
The hypocrisy of the richest countries was also called out at the summit in Dubai. During a press briefing on Tuesday, Meena Raman, a climate policy expert with the Third World Network said countries in the Global North “show themselves as climate champions even as they are expanding fossil fuel production and consumption… this is hypocrisy, it’s climate colonialism, and climate injustice”, The Guardian reported.
Anusha Mata, Senior Policy Adviser at the think-tank E3G, said the current draft text “leaves parties to pick and choose ‘a la carte’ on the energy package” and called on developed countries to “put their money where their mouth is and push for energy commitments that are backed up with credible, affordable finance and clear signals on implementation”.
But while campaigners called on countries like the UK to demonstrate leadership during the final hours of negotiations, it emerged that the UK’s Climate Minister Mr Stuart had left the COP28 summit in Dubai to attend the Parliamentary vote on the Govenment’s Rwanda Bill.
Number 10 said that he will return to COP28 and when askied about the carbon emissions from his flights, the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said the Government “is not anti-flying” and doesn’t “lecture the public in that regard”.
Francesca Rhodes, Senior Climate and Gender Policy Adviser for CARE International UK, said it was “staggering” that Mr Stuart was missing a “critical” stage of COP28.