big fat European companies “lying” about reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissionsThe international environmental organization Greenpeace says it is responsible for global warming in a report it released this Wednesday, describing its activity as ‘green laundering’.
The document ‘Dirty Twelve: Green Laundering of 12 European Oil Companies’ “They continue to invest the most in fossil fuels”Despite presenting a “false image” of the commitment to decarbonisation and renewable energy, many have committed to achieving zero emissions by 2050.
The NGO said in a statement that this work is known in the context of an “unprecedented climate emergency”, with record temperatures in 2022 and 2023 and the impact of worldwide extreme climate events such as heat waves, forest fires, droughts. and fatal floods.
Droughts, heatwaves and devastating fires are some of the events that directly affected Spain, causing millions of casualties for the families and farmers affected.
Repsol case
But according to Greenpeace In 2022 Repsol generated only 0.82% of its energy from renewable sources, with 99.18% corresponding to oil and gas production.
Regarding investments, it has allocated only 18% to renewable sources and 82% to fossil fuels, oil and gas business.
In addition, during the same period, “Repsol continued to lead the list of greenhouse gas emitting countries for another year, with a 16% increase compared to 2021 and a 70% increase in benefits,” according to the NGO.
According to Greenpeace, the Spanish company’s advertisements are “misleading” and benefits “do not contribute to real change in your business”, Despite being “the first company to announce its commitment to zero emissions by 2050 in 2019”.
Additionally, they describe Repsol’s decarbonization pathway as “lacking any credibility” because “the default solutions (such as biofuels) are actually the source of greenhouse gas emissions.”
Europe: marginal investments in clean energy
Regarding the group of European companies analyzed in the study, they state: Only 0.3% of energy production was electricity from renewable sources.
Moreover, only 7.3% of investments (6 billion 570 million Euros) can be considered truly low-carbon 92.7% (€81,520 million) of investments (including energies such as solar, wind, hydraulic geothermal, green hydrogen and other green gases) continue to focus on extracting more oil and fossil gas.
This, they say, “dramatically underpins the future of greater climate emergencies and financial risks.”
They point out that it is still necessary to underline that the main reason for the exacerbation of the effects of climate change is the emissions produced by fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal), which “represent the core business of the covered companies”. to work”.
More profits from the Ukrainian war
To these factors were added the war in Ukraine and the “exorbitant” increase in oil and gas prices. “We contributed to the increase in the profits of energy companies in 2022”As opposed to promoting countermeasures to the climate emergency, it “went to increase its shareholder dividends and invest more in fossil fuels.”
Pedro Zorrilla, spokesperson for Greenpeace’s Fossil Fuels and Climate Change Campaign, confirms: “Billion-dollar benefits from oil companies cannot continue to translate into more climate crisesharming people’s health and pockets” and “false promises of decarbonisation, while the facts show they have not changed the business model”.
That’s why they say “in the face of such irresponsibility” governments should stop subsidizing these companies and encourage strict regulation to “cut emissions by more than half by 2030 and achieve complete decarbonisation by 2040”.
They urge European governments to “tightly” regulate the fossil fuel industry.
A regulation that should include “the mandatory investment of these companies in truly green infrastructures”, a plan to avoid investments in “idle assets” (“useless” infrastructure under the Paris Agreement regime), the payment of permanent taxes for benefits, the ban on all advertising and greenwashing.
Similarly, they demand “stricter” rules on reporting and due diligence of any human rights violations in third countries.
Full report: https://es.greenpeace.org/es/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/08/20230816-Big-Oil-%CC%81s-Greenwashing-Estefania-esp.docx.pdf
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