Denmark, Costa Rica agree at COP26 to phase out oil, gas production

At the UN climate change conference (COP26) in Glasgow on Thursday, Denmark and Costa Rica launched a first of its kind alliance of national and subnational governments committed to phasing out new oil and gas projects as part of their transition to renewable energy.

"Our goal is not small, our ambition is not modest (but) we hope that today will mark the beginning of the end of oil and gas," Danish Climate, Energy and Utilities minister Dan Jorgensen said at the launching of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) initiative.

The minister added that the founding members of the group, which includes France, Greenland, Ireland, Canada's Quebec, Portugal, Sweden, New Zealand, Wales, California and Italy, did not respond to the call "for the thrill of the challenge" but because they truly believe it is necessary to tackle climate change.

Costa Rica's Minister of Environment and Energy, Andrea Meza, said that while addressing the demand side in the fight against climate change is important, the supply side cannot be left out.

"If we want to address the climate crisis, we need a managed but decisive phase-out of oil and gas production," she said, adding that "every dollar that we invest in fossil fuel projects is one less dollar for renewables or for the conservation of nature."

Meza explained that BOGA has a tier-membership structure with gradually rising levels of ambitions. On the top levels sit members that have committed to ending new concessions in licensing or leasing rounds for oil and gas production and exploration, and have pledged to set a Paris-aligned date for ending oil and gas production and exploration.

The COP26, due to conclude on Friday, is seen as the world's last chance to reach meaningful commitments to fulfil the goals set out by the 2015 Paris Agreement on greenhouse emission reduction, carbon neutrality, global warming and climate finance.

(ANI/Sputnik)