Speed urged on climate change

Policymakers and the energy sector are responding too slowly to address climate change and meet the goals of Paris climate accords, Norwegian energy company Equinor said.

The company, which recently changed its name from Statoil, made the call for action in its annual Energy Perspective report. To slow the pace of global warming, the electricity grid must in the coming decades get nearly 50 percent of its power from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, up from about 5 percent today, the report said. Global oil demand must fall by nearly 40 percent by 2050.

“The climate debate is long on targets but short on action,” said Equinor’s chief economist, Eirik Waerness. “We believe it’s possible to achieve climate targets set out in the Paris agreement, but that requires swift global and coordinated political action. Delaying actions will make it very hard to reach the climate targets.”

The burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal is blamed for accelerating the pace of climate change. The Paris accords aim to dramatically cut the greenhouse gases produced by human activities and keep average global temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in this century.

Other Big Oil companies such Exxon Mobil don’t expect oil demand to fall, although they project crude will lose market share to renewables and natural gas as the world’s energy demand rises. And even if oil demand falls by almost 40 percent, Equinor noted, that would still require major new investments in oil and gas exploration and production.

Equinor said it aims invest more in wind and solar power and slowly reduce its exposure to fossil fuels, while not abandoning its historic foundation of oil and natural gas production from the North Sea.