In a keynote address at the Global Decarbonization Accelerator, Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum outlined the tremendous milestones already reached since the forum began on Friday, including the UAE’s establishment of the Alterra fund with $30 billion.
He highlighted the importance of the Oil and Gas Decarbonisation Charter, announced on 2 December, to which Crescent Petroleum is a signatory along with 50 other leading international oil and gas companies. The charter calls for net zero emissions by 2050 or before, and “near-zero” upstream methane emissions and zero routine flaring by 2030, marking a point of consensus by oil and gas producers to deliver energy more cleanly.
Last month, Crescent Petroleum also became a signatory to the “Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions” project of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), committing to achieving zero methane emissions from its operations by 2030. The pledge reinforces Crescent Petroleum’s long-running efforts to cut methane emissions from its operations and reduce overall carbon intensity to be one of the first oil and gas companies to reach carbon neutrality.
“This has so far been the largest COP meeting, the most ambitious COP meeting, and we have already heard some amazing achievements and announcements,” Jafar said.
“It has been the most inclusive COP, by including the private sector as well as NGOs, and more importantly, by making sure that the developing world are well represented and are consulted in the framing of the agenda. With all this, COP28 is clearly headquartered and hosted in the right place, the UAE.”
Jafar highlighted that oil and gas will remain necessary through the energy transition to a decarbonised economy, creating the products upon which civilization and renewable and energy technologies rely, in addition to supporting the adoption of intermittent forms of energy like solar and wind power. However, Jafar underscored that energy producers must produce energy more cleanly and it must be used more efficiently in the transition.
