US, UK called out on hypocrisy on climate pledges as they ramp up oil and gas exploration to record levels

The US and UK have been accused of hypocrisy as they blow through their carbon budget allowances and issue record amounts of oil and gas exploration licences, The Guardian reports, according to a new report from energy consultant Rystad and the IISD.

Both countries will see a significant increase in oil and gas exploration in 2024. The world is set to produce nearly 12 gigatonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, predominantly driven by the wealthiest nations such as the US and the UK, already two of the world’s biggest emitters of CO₂, according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), shared exclusively with The Guardian.

As bne IntelliNews reported, the US has blown through its carbon budget allowance and emitted twice as much CO₂ as it is allowed under allocations granted as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The US is all but ignoring its climate targets and ramping up oil and gas production and exports to record levels.

The US, the EU and Russia have already burnt through their carbon budget allowance under the Paris Agreement obligations, whereas China and India are still in surplus, according to a study by Scientific American.

Conversely China and India, the biggest and third biggest emitters of CO₂, remain well within their carbon budget allowances, set by the Paris Agreements to allow a 50% chance of staying within the 1.5C increase in temperatures above the pre-industrial benchmark.

Both China and India are investing heavily into green energy and are increasingly looking like the grown-ups in the room. Indeed, China has emerged as the green energy global champion: two thirds of deployed solar panels are in China; in May alone China generated more green energy than any other country in the world produced in all of 2023; and China is rapidly approaching peak emissions, well ahead of any other country in the world.

The Paris Agreement set a 500 gigatonne allowable CO₂ emissions budget to keep temperature rises below 1.5C, but half of that has already been spent ahead of schedule. Last year was the hottest year ever, and this year has already recorded the hottest day since records began as the climate crisis accelerates faster than scientists were expecting.

The IISD reports the projected emissions from new oil and gas field licences to be awarded globally this year are anticipated to be the highest since 2018, coinciding with severe climate events worldwide.

The estimated 11.9 gigatonnes of emissions over the lifetime of these fields equates to the annual carbon output of China and twice that of the US. This includes licences issued as of June 2024, as well as those open for bidding, under evaluation, or planned for future licensing.

Despite a pledge to seek to reduce emissions and the use of fossil fuels at the COP28 last year, that summit, hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was deemed a failure as energy companies did little more than play lip service to the crisis. Little is expected from this year’s COP29 summit, which is being hosted by Azerbaijan, another big oil and gas producer that is also ramping up production.

Fossil fuel companies intend to invest more in new developments this year than at any time since the 2015 Paris Agreement, the IISD reports.

Despite their wealth and pro-active green policies, countries such as the US, UK, Canada, Norway and Australia are collectively responsible for two thirds (67%) of all the new exploration licences issued since 2020 and lead the new wave of exploration.

IISD policy adviser Olivier Bois von Kursk criticised the continuation and increase in exploration activities, especially by countries with relatively low dependence on fossil fuel revenues. "Rich countries should be the first to stop issuing new licences," he told The Guardian. Study after study has criticised the slow pace of climate action. Scientists are now warning the world is on course to see temperatures rise by a catastrophic 2.5% and that the 1.5C goal has probably been already missed.

Under the Biden administration, the US alone has issued 1,453 new licences, constituting half of the global total and 83% of those issued by wealthy nations. This marks a 20% increase from the Trump era, despite Trump's pledge to intensify drilling activities. And if Trump wins re-election he is likely to take the US out of the Paris Agreement for a second time and is currently campaigning on a platform that includes a policy of “drill baby, drill”, to use his words.

The UK has issued more licences than any other country this year, with the potential to add 101mn tonnes of emissions. Despite the new Labour government’s pledge to halt new drilling, the status of licences granted by the previous Conservative government is still uncertain.

The political influence wielded by the oil and gas industry remains substantial, with over $1bn spent on lobbying and campaign contributions in the past decade, The Guardian reports.