The question of what is meant by an “unshakeable fossil fuel-free” energy system and what conditions are associated with a transition could become one of the most important issues in climate policy “not just this year”. This is what Gerrit Hannsen of the German Institute for International Politics and Security wrote.
According to Hannsen, who works for the German Bundestag’s consultative foundation as well as the federal government, and who summarized in a report on the COP28 preliminary negotiations in Bonn in early July, a debate on “unwavering fossil fuels” will likely be one of the important issues in Dubai will become.
It is about phasing out fossil fuels as quickly as possible, because the greenhouse gases caused by their combustion are the cause of climate change. Carbon dioxide, the chemical compound made up of oxygen and carbon, is by far the most important of these chemical compounds. However, the concentration of CO2, as is the chemical formula of the gas, in the atmosphere is increasingly increasing and has reached an impressive new mark in 2022: according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the proportion has increased to more than 50 percent above pre-industrial levels, just as the greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) reached record levels last year.
The phase-out of fossil fuels seems inevitable, but Portal wrote ahead of the UN COP28 climate conference in Dubai that while many nations are calling for a stronger and more comprehensive commitment to an end to all “unwavering” fossil fuels – coal, oil and natural gas – would occur, but there is still no agreement on what “unshakeable” means in this context. For example, the online presence of the international research group “Zero Carbon Analytics” states that there is no generally valid scientific definition of what is meant by “steadfast fossil fuels”.
However, there is speculation from NGOs that the fossil fuel industry is behind these debates over the meaning of words. She wants to spark a discussion about whether oil and gas can continue to be extracted if CO2 or methane emissions are simply stored somewhere using CCS technology, for example in the ground or in depleted oil and gas deposits, rather than from being released into the atmosphere. CCS stands for Carbon Capture and Storage, that is, separation (“capture”) and savings (“storage”).