COP28 President’s ‘hypocritical’ oil firm failing to acknowledge full extent of their carbon footprint. The fossil fuel giant run by the president of the forthcoming UN climate summit, Sultan Al-Jaber, last month reported only a fraction of its carbon pollution. This is despite him saying companies need to “attack all emissions”, according to new analysis.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) produced 14 times more emissions last year than it reported. This takes into account emissions from burning the oil and gas it produces.

As president of COP28, Sultan Al-Jaber is charged with shepherding nations closer towards policies that will limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This is done largely through sweeping cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Al-Jaber’s appointment as the UAE’s climate tsar has alarmed environmental groups as well as US and EU lawmakers.

COP28 President’s ‘hypocritical’ oil firm failing to acknowledge full extent of their carbon footprint

In a first, ADNOC disclosed last month the emissions from producing its oil and gas last year. These emissions, known as Scope 1 and 2, amounted to 24 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2022. This is according to the company.

Greeting the announcement, the state-run Abu Dhabi media office heralded ADNOC’s disclosed emissions as an “industry-leading low carbon intensity achievement.”

Scope 1 and 2 emissions do not include pollution released when fossil fuels like oil and gas are burned for energy. These, known as Scope 3, typically make up the vast majority of an oil company’s carbon footprint. Although most oil and gas majors do not traditionally track Scope 3. Some, such as BP and Chevron, do include Scope 3 reductions in their climate targets.

Analysis of production data from Rystad Energy shows that ADNOC in 2022 produced over 650 million barrels of oil—enough to power China’s oil demand for six weeks—and over 40 billion cubic meters of gas.

Emissions from those products alone are calculated to just over 340 million metric tons of CO2—more than the UK produces each year and 14.1 times higher than the emissions the ADNOC disclosed this week.

Read more at globalwitness.org

Photo: globalwitness.org