In focus: COP26 shows world a glimpse of how it could be

Imagine a world where the biggest polluters pledge to joint action against carbon emissions, where oil majors join forces to decarbonise the energy and industrial sectors, where governments propose phasing out coal and fossil fuel subsidies while investing heavily in clean fuels and renewables. Now, continue reading and see why this was not so hard to imagine this week.

The final day of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, is expected to also bring the final document, which includes decisions and resolution that build on the Paris Agreement, and whose draft was released earlier in the week – much to the approval of environmental groups and climate change activists.

Namely, the draft calls for the acceleration of phasing-out of coal and fossil fuels subsidies, and efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. However, will the call to end fossil fuels subsidies be featured in the final document remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the world’s biggest polluters – the United States and China – have recognised the seriousness and urgency of the climate crisis and committed to tackling it.

The two countries are firm in their intent to seize this critical moment and engage in expanded individual and combined efforts to accelerate the transition to a global net-zero economy.

To complement the global energy transition efforts, a new global alliance of 11 national and subnational governments has been announced during COP26, established with the aim of seeking a managed phase-out of oil and gas production.

The alliance, named Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance (BOGA), has committed to align oil and gas production with the objectives of the Paris Agreement, and has inviting other countries to join.

Going hand in hand with government net-zero initiatives – this week at least – are those from the fossil fuels industry, as witnessed in the strategic collaboration agreement signed by oil majors Shell and Baker Hughes.

The two companies aim to accelerate the global energy transition by helping each other achieve their respective commitments for net-zero carbon emissions and advancing decarbonising solutions for the energy and industrial sectors.

The decarbonisation of such sectors, such as shipping, has been discussed in great detail during COP26, resulting in a declaration – signed by 19 countries – to establish zero-emission maritime routes between ports. Also, a new task force to support seafarers through green transition has been announced during the summit under the name of the Just Transition Maritime Task Force.

Back to industry collaborations, Shell has this week also teamed up with RWE Generation, to jointly advance projects for the production, use and distribution of green hydrogen. The companies intend to jointly assess the future development of electrolysis plants to produce green hydrogen. Additionally, they will consider locations that have potential pipeline capacity for hydrogen.

Hydrogen has also been discussed heavily during COP26, which saw Aberdeen City Council announcing £15 million to reinforce hydrogen economy in this port city and accelerate delivery of its hydrogen hub.

The news came as part of the publication of the Scottish government’s Hydrogen Action Plan, which outlines the pathway to meet a target of 25GW of green and blue hydrogen production by 2045.

Another tie-up comes from the UK, where leading companies Nova Innovation and SIMEC Atlantis Energy signed a collaboration agreement with the goal of delivering more UK-built tidal turbines in the water, turbo charging the tidal industry and contributing to net-zero future.

The final contribution to these energy transition efforts came from the Netherlands with the country announcing plans to develop additional 10.7GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 in order to meet the EU’s current goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to the 1990 levels.

The plans foresee increasing the country’s offshore wind target from the current 11.5GW to 22.2GW of operating offshore wind capacity by 2030.