As the COP27 climate summit draws to a close, experts around the world and in Newfoundland and Labrador say now is the time to start planning for the gradual reduction of oil and gas production in Province.
United Nations climate change conference brings together delegates from around the world to tackle climate change issues with a focus on extreme weather events, increased consumption of greenhouse gases and the growing energy crisis.
Angela Carter, a climate and energy policy researcher at the University of Waterloo, says this year’s conference came at a time when lofty climate goals have been set but not necessarily met.
“They’re not enough on their own to keep us below what’s been agreed upon as a goal of some sort of climate stability, which is 1.5 degrees of warming,” Carter told CBC Radio. Crosstalk tuesday.
“We’re already over a degree of warming, and we’re already seeing the kind of impacts that are affecting our communities now. The melting of Labrador, the fires in the center, the storms on the south coast. That’s in our backyard, the world is over.”
Newfoundland and Labrador was represented in Egypt by a delegation that included Environment Minister Bernard Davis, who touted Newfoundland’s oceans as an opportunity for a carbon sink and carbon capture and storage solution. carbon.
Last year at COP26 in Glasgow, Prime Minister Andrew Furey was criticized by scientists and environmental activists for launching Newfoundland oil and doubling oil production by 2030 as countries seek to move away from fossil fuels.
“The world needs petroleum products right now,” Furey said at the time. “And we have some of the best in the world, some of the cleanest in the world. And we have to make sure the world understands the product that we have.”
Carter said “clean oil” doesn’t exist and that the province is hedging its economic bets on an oil and gas rebound isn’t the best course of action in a time of climate crisis.
“It’s true that the sector has provided us with a lot of economic benefits here, no doubt. However, the lion’s share of oil profits have gone to the oil companies. And, I would say, we’ve been producing here since 1997 and we still face the same issues,” Carter said.
“At some point, you know, we have to ask ourselves, are we doing the same things over and over again and hoping for a different outcome this time?”
Production must drop, says lawyer
Tzeporah Berman, chair of the Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty to phase out fossil fuels and advocate for a just transition away from fuels, says the province is increasing oil production by 2030 while promoting net emissions zero by 2050 is contradictory.
“If you commit to net zero, you can’t expand new oil and gas development. There’s no room, the math doesn’t match, it doesn’t match. So we need a drop production now if we’re going to fight climate change and meet our goals under the Paris Agreement,” Berman said.
“We’re not talking about turning off the taps overnight. You can’t. But the new oil and gas expansion, at this point in history, threatens lives.”
Asked about the prospect of a carbon sink off Newfoundland, Berman said industry players should look at all options – but cautioned it would have to be done right.
“We’re going to have to store more carbon, but we can’t use that as an excuse to expand fossil fuel development. And we have to be very careful how we do that, because often the solutions can actually do more damage if we don’t do it carefully,” Berman said.
Learn more about CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
#COP27 #draws #close #Dutch #oil #gas #RadioCanada #News