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'Planet Wreckers': 4 Rich Nations Plotting Nearly 70% of New Oil and Gas Over Next Decade
"A handful of the world's richest nations remain intent on leading us into disaster. This is not just hypocrisy. It is a death sentence for communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis," Oil Change International global policy lead Romain Ioualalen said in a statement Monday.
"It is sickening that countries with the highest incomes and outsized historical responsibility for causing the climate crisis are planning massive oil and gas expansion with no regard for the lives and livelihoods at stake," Ioualalen added.
(Image: Oil Change International)
Nations that took part in the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP28, in Dubai committed to an equitable transition from fossil fuels. However, as Ioualalen noted, "this commitment is largely being ignored by some of the world's richest countries."
"Equity is not a buzzword. It is a foundational requirement to accelerate the transition," he asserted. "Until the richest countries commit to ending fossil fuel production and use and deliver adequate climate finance on fair terms, global calls for fossil fuel phaseout will ring hollow to developing countries that are struggling to meet development, energy access, and climate resilience needs."
The prospects of the U.S. making any meaningful near-term contribution to such a transition are dim given the Trump administration's "drill, baby, drill" energy policy.
The new report, and this year's Bonn conference, come between last year's COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan and the upcoming COP30 in Belém, Brazil. Oil Change noted that Brazil ranks among the 10 largest projected expanders of oil and gas over the next decade, with plans to surpass Saudi Arabia.
"Countries have an opportunity to course correct by working together," Ioualalen stressed. "COP30 must deliver a collective roadmap for equitable phaseout dates for fossil fuel production and use, to actually deliver on commitments all countries made at COP28."
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