Tar sands and deep sea oil projects are bad for business as well as the environment, CarbonTracker warns
The world’s seven largest oil companies could gamble away billions of dollars of investor’s money over the
next decade on expensive, risky and high-carbon oil projects, according to the latest research from UK-based think-tank the Carbon Tracker Initiative.
Imagine $91bn going into developing renewable, 100% clean alternative energy instead. That’s why we need our institutions to divest from this insanity.
With known, lower cost, conventional oil sources alone threatening to push the world over the internationally agreed danger-threshold of 2C of warming, there is no room for riskier, unconventional projects. Yet, oil companies are considering investing $357 billion over the next decade to develop new production in costly and technically challenging operations, including oil sands in Alberta, Canada, deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Arctic exploration. Such projects will never see a return in a carbon constrained world, leaving companies and investors exposed to potentially stranded assets.
Today’s report – a follow up to CTI’s cost curve analysis earlier this year – ranks the largest oil firms according to their exposure and reveals the 20 highest risk projects worldwide, which it warns could result in $91 billion in wasted investor capital. BP and Total have particularly high exposure to deepwater and ultra-deepwater drilling, according to CTI, while ConocoPhillips is unusually exposed to risky Arctic projects and – along with Shell – high carbon emitting oil sands.
The timing of CTI’s new research coincides with the launch yesterday of calls by 350.org for a global People’s Climate Mobilisation in September. In Europe, the spotlight will be firmly on efforts to secure widespread fossil fuel divestment.
As world leaders meet in New York on 23rd September for the Ban Ki-Moon climate summit, we will mobilise across Europe to highlight the dangers of the carbon bubble for our institutions and for the climate crisis.
From 19-21 September, we’ll be supporting groups to take action outside (or inside!) their own religious institutions, universities, banks and town halls to demand action, not words: divestment now!
Join them and register a Fossil Free action on the map where you live.