Empty Promises: Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter Masks Massive Fossil Fuel Expansion

The Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter's member companies approved 68 new oil and gas fields in 2024, totaling 14 billion barrels of oil equivalent and projected to release nearly 5 billion metric tonnes of CO2. Despite climate pledges, these companies are forecast to increase production by 17% by 2030, diverging from IEA pathways that require significant production declines. Ten companies drive over 90% of this expansion, with total new expenditures for 2024 projects reaching nearly USD 250 billion.

• Between January and September 2024, member companies of the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter approved 68 new oil and gas fields or field expansions. These projects contain 14 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) of reserves, which are estimated to cause nearly 5 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution when extracted and burned.
• A small group of ten companies is responsible for more than 90 percent of the new reserves approved by Charter members in 2024. Leading these companies are Shell, TotalEnergies, Petrobras, Saudi Aramco, and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
• The new oil and gas fields approved from January through September 2024 represent a financial commitment of nearly USD 250 billion, consisting of USD 87 billion in capital investment (capex) and USD 159 billion in operating costs. Furthermore, Charter companies are forecast to invest USD 728 billion in capex for developing and exploring new fields from 2024 through 2035 if current trends continue.
• Charter member companies are projected to increase their oil and gas production by 17 percent by 2030 compared to 2023 levels. This trajectory contradicts the International Energy Agency (IEA) 1.5ºC-aligned energy pathway, which requires global production to decline by nearly 20 percent by 2030 and 45 percent by 2035.
• The Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter is criticized for focusing on reducing emissions from upstream operations while ignoring the burning of the produced oil and gas, which typically accounts for 80 to 95 percent of the industry's emissions.

APA

Tong, D., Trout, K., & Johnson-Kurts, A. (2024). Empty Promises: Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter Masks Massive Fossil Fuel Expansion. Zero Carbon Analytics. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/empty-promises-oil-gas-decarbonization-charter-masks-massive-fossil-fuel-expansion/

Chicago

Tong, David, Kelly Trout, and Al Johnson-Kurts. Empty Promises: Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter Masks Massive Fossil Fuel Expansion. Zero Carbon Analytics, 2024. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/empty-promises-oil-gas-decarbonization-charter-masks-massive-fossil-fuel-expansion/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Tong |first1=David |last2=Trout |first2=Kelly |last3=Johnson-Kurts |first3=Al |title=Empty Promises: Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter Masks Massive Fossil Fuel Expansion |publisher=Zero Carbon Analytics |date=13 November 2024 |url=https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/empty-promises-oil-gas-decarbonization-charter-masks-massive-fossil-fuel-expansion/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{tong2024empty, author = {Tong, David and Trout, Kelly and Johnson-Kurts, Al}, title = {{Empty Promises: Oil \& Gas Decarbonization Charter Masks Massive Fossil Fuel Expansion}}, institution = {Zero Carbon Analytics}, year = {2024}, month = nov, url = {https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/empty-promises-oil-gas-decarbonization-charter-masks-massive-fossil-fuel-expansion/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }