European oil and gas majors call for carbon pricing systems

June 01, 2015 | 17:00

(0) user say

Recognising the importance of the climate challenge and of energy to human life and well-being, six major European oil and gas companies today joined together in calling for governments around the world and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) “to introduce carbon pricing systems and create clear, stable, ambitious policy frameworks that could eventually connect national systems.”

Photo source AFP Photo/Patrick Pleul

Specifically, BG Group plc, BP plc, Eni S.p.A., Royal Dutch Shell plc, Statoil ASA and Total SA set out their position in a joint letter from their chief executives to the UNFCCC Executive Secretary and the President of the COP21 ahead of the UNFCCC’s COP21 climate meetings in Paris this December.

The chief executives noted that the current trend of greenhouse gas emissions is in excess of what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says and it is needed to limit global temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees Centigrade.

They wrote, “We firmly believe that carbon pricing will discourage high carbon options and reduce uncertainty that will help stimulate investments in the right low carbon technologies and the right resources at the right pace. We now need governments around the world to provide us with this framework and we believe our presence at the table will be helpful in designing an approach that will be both practical and deliverable.”

The chief executives also today sent an additional letter to the media, setting out this position on carbon pricing and also the role that natural gas can play in reducing carbon emissions.

The letters to the UNFCCC Executive Secretary and the President of the COP21 and to the media are both attached in full below:

Letter on the role of gas and carbon pricing to media

Letter to UNFCCC

By By Mai Thuy

What the stars mean:

★ Poor ★ ★ Promising ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good ★★★★★ Exceptional