As COP28 approaches, Paris wants to convince the world to commit to a timetable. France therefore claims to be working to find an exit date from the oil era as part of the negotiations for the next UN climate conference scheduled for Dubai from November 30 to December 12.
“We want to have commitments from the gas and oil sector in terms of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions with positions that we will push on, probably an oil exit target, with a deadline,” said Monday. the Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher during a meeting organized by the association of energy journalists.
Macron wants “a very clear agenda”
The minister did not give more details on the deadline, but she relied on comments made a few days earlier by Emmanuel Macron. “France will carry a very clear agenda with deadlines for exiting from oil and coal, because that is where the effort must be concentrated”, had indeed declared the Head of State in his speech. to ambassadors on August 28.
“The President of the Republic wants to launch a strong initiative on the exit from oil, as he announced to the ambassadors. The objective is to get our European neighbors and all the ambitious countries in terms of climate on board as far as possible in view of COP28, ”said Agnès Pannier-Runacher’s cabinet on Monday.
The next few months will be marked by crucial international climate negotiations that will culminate in a battle over the end of fossil fuels at COP28 in Dubai. The rate of decline in their use and the very possibility of a definitive exit are the subject of strong opposition between the countries.
The European Union, which is negotiating on behalf of the Member States including France, wants the elimination well before 2050 of “unabated” fossil fuels, that is to say not backed by carbon capture or storage devices.
Oil demand ‘is still there’
On the production side, the oil sector “takes us back to the figure” that it is “forced to continue to operate oil wells since the demand is still there”, summed up the minister, before adding: “It is necessary that we can show, we, on the demand side, that we have an oil exit trajectory”.
“If you want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, you have to agree to talk with the countries that emit the most (greenhouse gases), and to agree to talk with the countries that produce the most fossil fuels , because it’s the only way to get approval, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, for greenhouse gas emissions commitments in their sector,” said Agnès Pannier-Runacher.