The Future is Equal

Oxfam responds to the launch of the Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance

Responding to the launch of the Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance (BOGA), a group of nations committed to phasing out domestic oil and gas production, Oxfam’s climate policy lead Nafkote Dabi said:

“This is a welcome initiative that we encourage all oil and gas producing nations to join. Its success will depend on which governments sign up. Committing to reach net zero emissions while continuing to extract and produce fossil fuels is an epic contradiction that must be called out once and for all. 

“While this alliance is rightly open to all, it must be led by industrialised countries that have grown rich from decades of extracting and burning fossil fuels. For this initiative to work, they must lead the way to a fossil-free economic model and enable poorer countries to access the benefits of low-carbon technology.

“The International Energy Agency is clear that there is no room for new fossil fuel production if we are to limit global heating to 1.5°C, and that new production must immediately cease in industrialised countries that have historically benefited from extraction. Communities are already suffering the impacts of virtually endless droughts, rising oceans and super-charged storms. Every fraction of a degree of warming costs lives.”

Notes to editors:

The Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance (BOGA) was announced in September 2021 and is being officially launched today at 12:45GMT at the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, UK.

The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2021 said that “no new oil and gas fields are required beyond those already approved for development” under its Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario