Costa Rica and Denmark created a diplomatic alliance to discourage fossil fuel drilling.
The two countries formed the “Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance” to “gather a group of ambitious governments that are committed to delivering a managed and just transition away from oil and gas production.” The new group wants to deliver on the Paris Climate Agreement’s provisions regarding phasing out fossil fuel production.
The alliance’s goals are to:
Strengthen global climate ambition by aligning oil and gas production with the Paris Agreement goal of well below 2oC, pursuing efforts for 1.5oC.
Raise the issue of fossil fuel supply on the international climate and energy agenda, and promote dialogue on the need for a managed and just phase-out of oil and gas production.
Capture and leverage momentum from first movers on oil and gas phase-out and encourage others to take action, by providing a home for those new commitments.
Create an international community of practice that can support governments in delivering their commitment to a managed and just phase-out of oil and gas production.
CNBC reports that Costa Rica and Denmark will seek to promote the treaty — which is legally binding — at United Nations climate talks in November. As Danish climate minister Dan Jorgensen recently argued: “There is no scenario in which we burn all the oil and gas that we can find and in which we stay below 2 degrees — and definitely not 1.5. It is just not possible, so we need to stop.”
A recent investor note from Morgan Stanley analysts said that the “movement to not have children owing to fears over climate change is growing and impacting fertility rates quicker than any preceding trend in the field of fertility decline.”
Indeed, the United States birth rate fell by 4% in 2020 — reaching the lowest level since health officials started tracking it more than a century ago.
Morgan Stanley’s note was released shortly before the United Nations released a nearly 4,000-page climate report that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called a “code red for humanity.” As the AP summarized, the report “described five different future scenarios based on how much the world reduces carbon emissions.”
Among the possibilities are “a future with incredibly large and quick pollution cuts,” “another with intense pollution cuts but not quite as massive,” “a scenario with moderate emission cuts,” “a fourth scenario where current plans to make small pollution reductions continue,” and “a fifth possible future involving continued increases in carbon pollution.”