European oil, gas majors call for carbon pricing systems

Recognizing “the importance of the climate challenge,” six major European oil and gas companies have joined together in calling for governments around the world and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) “to introduce carbon pricing systems and create clear, stable, ambitious policy frameworks that could eventually connect national systems.”

BP PLC, BG Group PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Statoil ASA, Eni SPA, and Total SA jointly documented their position in a letter from their chief executives to the UNFCCC Executive Secretary and the president of the COP21 ahead of the UNFCCC’s COP21 climate meetings in Paris in December.

They note that the current trend of greenhouse gas emissions is more than what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says is needed to limit global temperature rise to no more than 2° C.

Emphasizing the importance of natural gas in reaching their goal, the chief executives wrote, “We firmly believe that carbon pricing will discourage high-carbon options and reduce uncertainty that will help stimulate investments in the right low-carbon technologies and the right resources at the right pace. We now need governments around the world to provide us with this framework and we believe our presence at the table will be helpful in designing an approach that will be both practical and deliverable.”