G20 To Pursue More Renewables And Carbon CaptureBy Tsvetana Paraskova - Sep 06, 2023, 7:45 AM CDT



The G20 group plans to commit to tripling renewable capacity by 2030 but also give more room for fossil fuel development by seeking increased use of carbon capture technology, sources with knowledge of the talks have told Bloomberg.

At the G20 summit in India, the group of 20 nations, which includes top oil and gas producers the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Russia, as well as major energy importers such as China, India, Japan, and South Korea, plans to call for increased efforts to deploy carbon capture and other technologies that would reduce emissions from oil, natural gas, and coal, Bloomberg’s anonymous sources said.

During a ministerial meeting in July, Saudi Arabia and Russia blocked a planned pledge to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.

The Saudis and Russia announced on Tuesday they would extend their respective ongoing oil supply cuts through the end of the year, seeking to support higher oil prices.

If a commitment to renewables is made at the summit in India, it could be a boost to the host nation for spearheading such a pledge, and to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a major oil producer and exporter that is also hosting this year’s climate summit COP28.

In the G20, coal-related emissions of carbon dioxide have gone up by 9% since 2015 on a per-capita basis, climate change think tank Ember has said.

Despite emissions reductions in recent years, Australia and South Korea emit more than three times the global average in coal-related CO2 emissions. China was third.

“The G20 accounts for 80% of global emissions. Within the group, however, an individual’s coal emissions in 2022 were notably higher, with per capita figures reaching 1.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide, compared to the global average of 1.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide,” Ember wrote.

Separately, G20 countries spent a record $1.4 trillion since COP26 in 2021 through 2022 on coal, oil and gas, according to think tank the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com