The oil and gas industry will need to scale back much faster to limit warming to 1.5°C

If global temperature increase is to be limited to 1.5°C, CO2 emissions must reach net zero in 2050, if not sooner. Consumption of oil must begin to fall in the next few years and fall substantially thereafter – far from the gentle plateauing expected by many in the industry. Gas consumption, considered by the industry to be a “growth engine”, must begin to decline by 2030. Most European oil and gas companies have responded to investor pressure by updating their emission targets, describing them as being consistent with net zero. Research shows that this is not the case. Dan Gardiner, Rory Sullivan, Simon Dietz, and Valentin Jahn say that oil and gas companies will have to go much further to genuinely claim 1.5C/net-zero alignment. For most, this is likely to require a substantial scaling back of investment in exploration and production activities, particularly for oil.