Docs Show Equinor Pushing 'False Solutions' to Climate Change While Lobbying UK Government on COP26

Phoebe Cooke headshot - credit Laura King Photography
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Oil company Equinor suggested to government officials that it could invest in the UKโ€™s natural carbon sinks in an apparent effort to secure its presence at the next UN climate talks, to be held in Glasgow in November 2021, internal memosย show.ย 

Campaigners said the exchange showed how oil companies continue to push โ€œfalse solutionsโ€ to climate change to greenwash their images and garner favour withย governments.

Dozens of emails and notes obtained by campaign organisation Culture Unstained reveal how Equinor, Shell and BP set up informal lunches and meetings with civil servants and government ministersย includingย Andrea leadsom, Kwasi Karteng and Alok Sharma to discuss their place at the climate talks, known as COP26.

In August, the government appeared to raise the bar for its COP26 sponsors, requesting candidates who are โ€œmaking real contributions to the fights against climate changeโ€, have โ€œstrong climate credentialsโ€, and โ€œset ambitious net zero commitments by 2050 orย earlierโ€.ย 

While this was interpreted as ruling out fossil fuel companies, the COP26 Unit confirmed to DeSmog that it has not eliminated any specific industries or businesses from the selection process, and that an announcement about sponsors will be made in dueย course.ย 


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Oilย sponsorship

The documents, dating between July 2019 to May this year, show the oil majors have consistently been vying for government attention through a steady stream ofย correspondence.

Referring to the Equinorโ€™s role at COP26, one email from a company employee to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in October 2019 asks outright: โ€œIf I was to ask you โ€“ ball park โ€“ how much money you would like from us, for what, and with what visibility for us, what would youย say?โ€

The request was greeted by a degree of confusion by civil servants, with one remarking to a colleague: โ€œYeah, itโ€™s a bit tricky with the oil and gas sector!! Can you send them a holding message for now saying that [we] note the kind offer and [we] are developing our sponsorship and partneringย strategiesโ€.

Emails show Equinor followed up with a meeting with a member of the government’s COP Unit and was โ€œchasing up on offers made (by Equinor) to help in the preparations for COP26, including possibly throughย sponsorshipโ€.

In March, as COVID-19 restrictions loomed in the UK, Equinor pushed for an in-person meeting with the Cabinet Office the very next day, citing a meeting in October when they had โ€œagreed we would be happy to be one of the proactively helpful energyย companiesโ€.

Nature-basedย influence

The March meeting never materialised due to lockdown, but Equinor continued to press for an audience with the government. Company representatives chased civil servants for a longer meeting in May, in which they wanted to cover โ€œcampaigns, energy industry policies, deliverables and โ€˜announceablesโ€™, international engagement and natural climateย solutions.โ€

Unlike a growing number of energy companies, Equinor has not yet pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, instead saying it will reduce its net emissions intensity by 50 percent by 2050. This distinction allows for the continued extraction of oil and gas, which the company said it would continue to produce for the โ€œforeseeableย futureโ€.

Alongside investment in renewables, Equinor plans to use ‘nature-based solutions’, such as planting trees,ย to decarbonise its energy supply โ€” though this is yet to materialise in practice. Since November 2018, the company has said it will invest in Emergent, a mechanism to process carbon credits made through tropical forestry protection, as soon as that isย viable.

This commitment to NBS is reinforced in the companyโ€™s โ€˜climate roadmapโ€™. Launched in February 2020, itย says: โ€œnatural climate solutions, particularly protection of tropical rainforests and other land-based solutions, can contribute up to one-third of the climate efforts the world needs over the nextย decades.โ€


Read more โ€” ย Investigation: The Problem with Big Oilโ€™s โ€˜Forestย Feverโ€™


At the May meeting, the company said it was โ€œopen to wider conversations with HMG [Her Majestyโ€™s Government] and projects in the UK (e.g. the restoration of peat bogs in Scotland)โ€ and made plans for a follow-up conversation on theย subject.ย 

An Equinor spokesman confirmed these plans to DeSmog, adding that as the developer of the worldโ€™s biggest offshore wind farm, Dogger Bank in the UK, and as the leader of the Zero Carbon Humber project, it was proud to be โ€œsupporting the UKโ€™s energy transition and net zeroย goalsโ€.

It seems Equinor was right to try and use NBS as a make-weight in its attempts to get its foot in the door with the UKย government.ย 

For the meeting with Equinor, BEIS officials allotted an entire section to carbon markets and nature-based solutions. Their own notes for the meeting read: โ€œStrengthening robust carbon markets which unlock private finance for mitigation, including through nature-based solutions, is an important part of COP26.โ€ย 

They added that it was โ€œengaging key countries and partners to explore how we can support a package of initiatives which strengthen high-integrity carbon markets and support the global transition to net-zero, including through unlocking additional finance for Nature-Basedย Solutionsโ€.

DeSmog has contacted BEIS forย comment.

โ€˜Not the onlyย answerโ€™

Nature-based solutions have been widely acknowledged by governments and big business as playing a vital role in cutting emissions through restoring or preserving natural carbon sinks to reach Paris Agreement targets of a 1.5C warming by the end of theย century.ย 

But campaigners are concerned that the effectiveness and viability is frequently overstated, potentially leading to dubious carbon reductions and harm to the Indigenous populations and rich biodiversity home to the impactedย forests.

In particular, they argue that Big Oil companiesโ€™ recent interest in nature-based solutions is designed to improve their image while they continue to invest heavily in oil andย gas.ย 

When asked in the meeting about reducing its Scope 3 emissions,ย which include emissions from the burning of its products andย make up the bulk of the companyโ€™s carbon footprint, Equinor answered: โ€œMoving the companyโ€™s focus [away] from oil and gas is not the onlyย answerโ€.ย 

The exchanges show Equinor is minimising the importance of decarbonising, while at the same time overplaying the carbon benefits of natural climate solutions to convince BEIS they were worthy sponsors, Culture Unstainedโ€™s Chris Garrardย says.ย 

โ€œThese documents reveal that oil and gas companies still have a backchannel to the organisers of COP and are once again pushing false solutions. If weโ€™re to keep the world below 1.5C, we need to see rapid cuts in fossil fuel production and an end to new exploration,โ€ he toldย DeSmog.ย 

โ€œInstead, companies like Equinor cynically argue that moving their focus โ€˜away from oil and gas is not the only answerโ€™ as they desperately overstate the potential role of offsets and nature based solutions. The COP Unit must now rule out partnerships with fossil fuel companies โ€” it should be Indigenous communities and those already being impacted by climate change setting out the solutions, not the architects of the climateย crisis.โ€

Mel Evans, senior climate campaigner for Greenpeace UK, agreed the governmentโ€™s criteria โ€œshould rule out any fossil fuel companies which by definition have caused the very crisis that the talks seek toย addressโ€.ย 

Evans added: โ€œThe only discussion the UK government should be having with the oil industry right now is about the carefully managed wind down of North Sea oil and gas production and a just transition for the workers and communities who currently depend onย it.โ€ย 

โ€œThe government would be a global embarrassment if it were to line up fossil fuel companies to sponsor a conference designed to address the destruction those very companies areย causing.โ€

Image: Carina Johansen/Scanpixย CC BYNCย 4.0

Phoebe Cooke headshot - credit Laura King Photography
Phoebe joined DeSmog in 2020. She is currently co-deputy editor and was previously the organisation's Senior Reporter.

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