OPEC chief’s call for huge investment in oil is a formula for climate disaster

Responding to comments by Haitham Al-Ghais, the Secretary General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), urging US$12 trillion of investment in the oil industry by 2045, Candy Ofime, Amnesty International’s Researcher and Legal Adviser on Climate Justice said:

“Further heavy investment in the exploitation of oil is a reckless and sure-fire formula for further climate chaos and the erosion of human rights. It would endanger international efforts to mitigate the climate emergency and limit global warming to 1.5°C, with potentially disastrous consequences for billions of people.

“Instead, a full, rapid and equitable phase out of fossil fuels and investment in renewable energy, through a just and human rights-compliant energy transition, is the right approach to help secure a sustainable future. This scale of investment should be directed towards developing renewable energy resources and climate adaptation, particularly in lower income countries, primarily in the form of grants.

“Haitham Al-Ghais says it is dangerous for energy security if heavy investment in oil is not forthcoming, but it will be far more dangerous for us all if the oil industry is essentially given free rein to continue damaging the climate. There is no room for new fossil fuel projects if the internationally agreed ambition to keep the rise in average global temperatures this century to below 1.5°C is to be met.

“The existing exploitation of fossil fuels means greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are already at the highest levels ever recorded. Swathes of the world have experienced a cycle of fire and floods this year as record high temperatures have frequently been followed by record rainfall. There will be more and worse climate-induced disasters to come if the oil industry is allowed to have its way.

“Everyone has the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment so fossil fuel companies have a responsibility to refrain from lobbying governments whether directly, or indirectly through trade associations, for policies and decisions that perpetuate a carbon-based economic model and damage being inflicted on the climate.”