Financing just oil and gas transitions

This side-event co-hosted between the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) and Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) will focus on the fossil fuel production sector and examine the levers that financial actors and regulators have to enhance the credibility of transition plans of National Oil Companies (NOCs) and their host countries. NOCs account for half of oil and gas production, 40% of investments in the sector and two thirds of the planet’s hydrocarbon reserves. Any chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C and even well below 2°C therefore requires a better understanding of how NOCs function and what levers can be activated to support their decarbonisation.

At COP28 Parties agreed to an equitable transition away from fossil fuels. To build on this, fossil fuel producers must be held accountable on their transition plans as these companies and countries account for the lion’s share of GHG emissions in the oil and gas sector. Financial actors and regulators have a key role to play through the financing and technical assistance they provide.

Increasing the credibility of the transition plans of fossil fuel producers, shifting financial flows, and supporting countries to present new NDCs and LTS in line with 1.5C are also topics of key relevance to the next COPs.

This event will delve into these topics and showcase research from WBA, CCSI, IISD, Carbon Tracker and NRGI. The event will invite experts in the field and assess what are the risks for companies and countries that do not transition fast enough and what are the opportunities for those that do.