A dozen governments and states including France created a coalition on Thursday 11 November to commit to deciding on the end of the exploitation and extraction of oil and gas, on the eve of the official end of the COP26 in Glasgow (Scotland, United Kingdom). This will undoubtedly not make it possible to contain global warming around 1.5 ° C but it is considered as a step forward for the exit of fossil fuels.
This coalition does not, however, count the oil and gas heavyweights of the United States, Russia or Saudi Arabia. The concrete scope of this alliance is therefore limited. On the other hand, the message is unprecedented in a climate summit.
“In 30 years of negotiations on global warming, it had never been possible to discuss the extraction of fossil fuels”
Maxime Combes, climate economistto franceinfo
According to him, the announcement of this alliance “is very good news”. Indeed, he believes that she “Maybe will help create a breach, thus allowing to discuss how we massively reduce the exploitation of gas, oil and coal”. This is, according to him, in line with the recommendations of the energy transition scenarios and the fight against global warming established in recent months.
The signatories, including Denmark – the largest producer of hydrocarbons in Europe – and California, undertake without constraints or schedule to stop extraction or at least to scale production on their soil. The goal is to hope to meet the objectives of the Paris agreement. For several of them, this objective has already been set.
Above all, the impact of this commitment on projects outside national borders should be put into perspective. “THEa France is not going to tell Total or Engie to stop everything “, laments Lorette Philippot, from the Friends of the Earth organization. “French companies abroad can of course continue to develop their oil and gas activities in parallel, she indicates. France itself can continue to support oil and gas expansion abroad, in particular through its export financing. This is something that still shows the inconsistency of Emmanuel Macron’s position. “
The government has in fact chosen to extend financial support for exports until 2025 for oil and 2035 for gas. In France, the exploitation of fossil fuels has been banned for five years for certain operations, including one in Lorraine awaiting an extraction authorization. This will be a full-scale test for the government of its willingness to make real progress on fossil fuels.