COP28 Outcome: Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels; Half the World’s Oil and Gas Producers Sign New Pledge

The COP28 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai has set the world on a clear path towards decarbonisation, with a pledge to transition away from fossil fuels, reduce global emissions by 43% by 2030, and accelerate emission reductions towards net zero by 2050. Additionally, world leaders have committed to tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030.

The two-week-long World Climate Action Summit brought together 154 heads of states and government representatives, with parties reaching a range of historic agreements on tackling climate change issues. Some of the other points agreed include the creation of a loss and damage fund and funding arrangements, with a total of US$700 million pledged. Among the leading donors, the UAE committed US$100 million, as did Germany. The UK committed £40 million and £20 million for other arrangements, Japan US$10 million and the US US$17.5 million.

In addition to the loss and damage fund, the existing Green Climate Fund (GCF) received a boost with six countries pledging further funding to bring the total to US$12.8 billion from 31 countries. Additionally eight governments announced more funding to the Least Developed Countries Fund and Special Climate Change Fund to take it to US$174 million to date, while new pledges of nearly US$188 million were made to the Adaptation Fund.

The summit was very wide in scope, with a total of 191 announcements made on a range of topics, ranging from investments, emissions reductions, water quality initiatives, support for technology and AI projects, projects to protect biodiversity, projects for early warning systems and commitment monitoring, and projects for other forms of energy such as hydrogen and nuclear. 

One of the most significant agreements for investment markets was the oil and gas decarbonisation charter (OGDC) signed by 50 of the world’s largest fossil fuel producers, which pledged to work to achieve net zero by or before 2050, eliminate methane emissions completely, eliminate routine flaring by 2030, and implement industry best practice in respect to emission reduction. Signatory companies included Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest producer by far, ExxonMobil, BP and Brazil’s Petrobras and, as they represent over 40% of global oil production. It’s important because oil and gas producers account for only 1% of total clean energy investment globally, with more than 60% of this coming from just four companies, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) in a report from December 2023.

The full list of national oil and gas company and independent company signatories can be found at the foot of this page. Among the notables which did not sign the pledge were PetroChina, the world’s second largest producer by barrels, Mexico’s state Pemex, US-based ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Qatar Petroleum and China’s Sinopec.

Among the key measures to which the signatories agreed were:

> Investing in the energy system of the future including renewables, low-carbon fuels and negative emissions technologies;
> Increasing transparency, including enhancing measurement, monitoring, reporting and independent verification of greenhouse gas emissions and their performance and progress in reducing emissions;
> Increasing alignment with broader industry best practices to accelerate decarbonization of operations and aspire to implement current best practices by 2030 to collectively reduce emission intensity;
> Reducing energy poverty and providing secure and affordable energy to support the development of all economies;

> A declaration signed by 22 countries calling for a tripling of nuclear power generation capacity between 2020 and 2050, in order to reduce dependence on oil, gas and coal.

The OGDC is a key initiative under the Global Decarbonization Accelerator (GDA), a series of initiatives launched at the summit. The program focuses on three key pillars: rapidly scaling the energy system; decarbonising the energy system; and targeting methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases. A factsheet produced at COP 28 is here.