Big oil and coal producers feel the heat as COP26 targets fossil fuels

Big oil and coal producers feel the heat as COP26 targets fossil fuels

The giant Saudi Arabian pavilion at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow is decked out with video screens that flash with solar panels and a green sculpture of the kingdom’s territory made from real moss — an attempt to burnish its environmental credentials.

It has not stopped Saudi Arabia and other hydrocarbon-producing countries such as Russia and Australia from facing a harsh spotlight at the two-week summit.

In Glasgow, fossil fuels have been a target like never before, with concerted efforts to forge coalitions of countries willing to end the use and financing of coal, oil and gas.

The phrase “fossil fuels” has not been mentioned in a UN climate summit text until now, with this year’s draft document including a proposal to end “unabated coal power” as well as “inefficient subsidies” for the industry.

The 2015 Paris accord set an aim to limit global warming to 2C, or ideally 1.5C, but made no prescription for which fuels to use, or not use, to achieve this.

Whether the phrase makes it into the final text that was still being hammered out on Friday evening — in the face of strong resistance from leading producers — it is clear that the battle over fossil fuels has