The boom in the fossil fuel industry has contributed to the worsening of the phenomenon of global warming because of the gas emissions produced over the past 28 years between 1988-2016.
The term climate change or global warming refers to the harmful effects of gases or emissions that pollute air caused by industry and agriculture and affect the Earth’s atmosphere.
To address the global warming problem, major industrialized countries agreed to implement a carbon-emission project aimed at studying the environmental impact of major global companies, which was published in June 2017 in cooperation with the US Climate Accountability Institute.
The Carbon Emissions Project has proven that nearly 100 companies have been responsible for producing about 71 percent of the gas caused to the global warming since 1988.
The project, which mainly targets companies producing fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas), aims to educate companies and countries about the magnitude of damage to the planet, noting that “25 of these companies alone produced about half of greenhouse gas emissions.
These include Russian Gazprom, Suncor and Exxon Mobil, formerly headed by current US Secretary of State Rex Tilerson, as well as Total, Shell and Apple, which consumes 83 percent of the . Renewable energy versus 67% for the company founded by Mark Zuckerberg, and 56% for the Google search engine.
In addition, the report, based on a range of known and public data, reveals that five of these emissions come from public-utility companies, while about 41% of emissions over the past 28 years have been generated by companies run by investors,similar to the Pipiadi , Chevron and Total.
The list of companies that are relatively responsible for global warming includes some coal companies that export huge amounts of carbon, and are expected to thrive in the coming years.
The Carbon Emissions Project called on these companies to shoulder their responsibilities, stressing that they would stop investing in these energies. If they continued at this pace, the Earth’s temperature would rise in the next 28 years, another four degrees.
The Paris Convention on Climate Change and the Global Warming adopted in Paris on December 12, 2015, states that all countries must commit themselves to fight climate change and reduce the level of greenhouse gases to levels that can be naturally absorbed by trees, soils and oceans.
India, the third source of greenhouse gases, has promised to cut carbon emissions and double its solar production capacity over the next seven years, as China has done.
The signatories to the Paris Convention on the Reduction of Global Warming resulting from these emissions have agreed as follows:
• Keep the Earth’s temperatures at a “much lower” level than the 2C (3.6 Fahrenheit) level above the pre-industrial level and “try to reduce it” even to a higher level of 1.5 ° C.
• Reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from human activities to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally between 2050 and 2100.
• Review the contribution of each country to reducing emissions every five years, allowing for measuring the magnitude of the face of the challenge of climate change.
• Enable rich countries to help the poor by providing them with funding to help them adapt to climate change and move to renewable energy sources, in which countries aim to reduce global warming to 2 ° C or 1.5 ° C. Some large companies such as MBP, , ExxonMobil, Shell and Total supported to impose tax on a carbon .
“It is necessary to prevent the development of this company’s investments if we want to respect the Paris Climate Convention,” said Lucy Benson, a member of Friends of the Earth. Both Google, Facebook and IKEA are committed to using 100% of renewable energy.
Swedish automaker Volvo has announced that all its cars will be electric or hybrid in the next two years.
Renewable energy is more profitable:
The founder of the global movement on climate change, Bill McBein, called for the withdrawal of investments related to fossil fuels. “Fossil fuel companies are aware that they are no longer up to date and are fully aware that the returns on investments in coal, gas and oil are much lower than those which are working in renewable energy companies in particular.”
In fact, some countries understand that investing in renewable energy is more profitable and its revenues are long-term. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030 would contribute to providing 4200 Billion (equivalent to 3740 billion Euros per year).
The announcement by 10 major oil and gas companies on Friday, 27 October 2017, of technical investments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming, at a meeting in London.
BG Group, BP, ENA, Pemex, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Reliance Industries, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil, Total , were met within the initiative of oil and gas companies in relation the climate, (OGC) with aim to invest and work together to contribute to the fight against climate change.
These groups announced the creation of a $ 1 billion investment fund since November 2016 to support technical progress that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a large extent. So there was an investment in US-based Soledia Technologies for producing cement , that its technologies were able to reduce Emissions, “using carbon dioxide instead of water to freeze the cement.” And an investment with Ashats Power company, which develops innovative engines “capable of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.”
And the development of a large-scale gas plant for the carbon capture and storage with the support of the Fund, and the capacity of the plant to store industrial carbon dioxide “and its separation.
“These three investments are capable of significantly influencing greenhouse gas emissions,” the Executive Director of the initiative of Gas and Oil Companies’ of the Climate , Pratima Rangarajan, said and the ten Executive Directors pointed out in a joint statement that the “Natural gas is a key element in moving to the future With low carbon content, explaining that their goal is to work to achieve near-zero emissions of methane gas. ”
Greenhouse gases:
they are gases which are found in the atmosphere and absorb infrared radiation from the surface of the Earth due to sunlight, estimated at 40 species, according to the International Commission for the follow-up of climate development.
The absorption of these gases – the most common of which are carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane and nitrogen monoxide – from the Earth’s surface, causes the accumulation of large quantities of it to the atmosphere, which causes a direct thermal effect on the planet of the earth by the proximity of the atmosphere from the surface Earth, this phenomenon is known as the global warming.
Carbon dioxide and nitrogen are classified as the two most polluting gases found naturally in the atmosphere, representing respectively 78 and 21% of the greenhouse gases emitted from the Earth as a result of human , natural environment and non-industrial activity.
Industrial activity is primarily responsible for the production and accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In addition to the presence of natural greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a large amount of the greenhouse gases, which have a high impact on global warming, the industrial activity of the human being is responsible for its presence in the atmosphere .
The phenomenon of Global warming is alarming because of its destructive impact on the earth and human and it has been of great concern of the international community since the late 1960s, culminating in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the summer of 1992 with the participation of more than 190 countries. It is the third summit of its kind after the Stockholm and Nairobi summits in 1972 and 1982.
The summit and its subsequent summits – Johannesburg, Kyoto and Copenhagen – have sought to limit greenhouse gas emissions to avert an all-encompassing environmental catastrophe, according to data from research centers and specialists, warning of global warming at the end of the 21st century, an average of two degrees compared to the average temperature at the start Record temperatures with the advent of the industrial revolution in the eighteenth century.
it is worth to be noted that If these countries continue to use coal as a major source of energy and invest in it, it means that they have not kept their promises and commitments to the climate agreement. In this latest plan, Beijing plans to finalize its five-year plan to reduce the share of coal in the amount of energy it consumes or produces From 64% to less than 58% by 2020.
The investments announced today by the Climate Fund that the Soledia Technologies company uses patented way to produce cement that can achieve lower rates of carbon dioxide emissions by up to 70% compared to conventional methods of production of concrete, and reduce water consumption by 80% through the use of the second Carbon monoxide in cement processing rather than water, as well as the development of Acacis Power, a reciprocating piston engine capable of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.
With the support of the Climate Investment Fund, as part of an alliance of engine manufacturers, Acatis Power Company aims to accelerate the adoption of its technology for engines around the world.
Despite the obvious risks of warming, differences have persisted among countries over greenhouse gas reduction ratios and their suitability to the industrial activity of each country. The United States, along with China (the world’s largest polluters), are refusing to restrict greenhouse gas emissions only with a limited scale justifying that the limit actually means slowing the pace of industrial activity, which will affect economic development.
World leaders have expressed disappointment over the US withdrawal from the Convention on Climate Change:
The United States, according to its president, Donald Trump, said the agreement “punishes the United States and costs millions of jobs.”
The agreement obligates the United States and 187 other countries to maintain high temperatures at 2 ° C above the level of pre-industrial revolution and try to reduce this level to 1.5.
The United Nations International Meteorological Organization said that in the worst case the United States may add 0.3 degrees of heat to the global level by the end of the century.
Analysts say the global move by global oil and gas companies to invest in environmental protection comes after growing public pressure to curb emissions and the initiative announced by companies could expand in the future as environmental risks increase.
Shatha Khalil
Economic unity
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies