This event is exclusive to Friends of Tortoise
If the world needs to cut carbon emissions by half by 2030, the message hasn’t got through in Saudi Arabia. Or Mexico, Venezuela, Iraq, Russia or Suriname. Saudi Aramco is planning to ramp up oil production by a million barrels a day by 2030 and other national oil companies (NOCs) are following suit. Their output and investment in exploration are heading up, not down. Their market share will grow to 75 per cent by 2040. They feel little pressure to respond to climate change or limit their environmental impact. The household names grouped together as Big Oil in the rich North may be reconciling themselves to net zero and a future in renewables, but the NOCs are eager to pick up the slack and the governments that depend on them for tax revenues are unlikely to interfere. So on Energy Day at Cop26 we’ll ask: what is to be done about the NOCs? Are any of them serious about diversifying away from oil and gas? If not, how can the governments that control them be persuaded to make the energy transition the planet needs, and who’ll pay for it?
editor and invited experts
Giles Whittell
Sensemaker Editor
Akintunde Babatunde
Manager of the Natural Resources and Extractive Programme, Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism
Dr Valérie Marcel
Associate Fellow, Environment and Society Programme, Chatham House
Natalie Bennett
Leader of the Green Party England and Wales 2012-16