A number of recent reports have raised the question of how much of existing hydrocarbon reserves can be used if the world is to meet the Paris Goal of no more than 1.5 degrees of global warming. This blog examines the conclusions of the most recent of those reports, published in the journal Nature, in
Energy Law
ESG in the Energy Sector
By Thomas Reilly & Summreen Mahween on
Posted in Energy Law, United Kingdom
The OGA’s ESG Task Force
In response to these competing tensions operating on oil and gas companies, the UK’s Oil and Gas Authority (“OGA”) convened a Task Force to set out a number of disclosure and investor reporting requirements for operators and licensees. Whilst those recommendations will not create any regulatory or mandatory reporting obligations for UK oil and gas companies, the UK Government will closely examine them and may use them as guidelines for any potential future legislation in this area.
The Task Force’s initial focus was on the ‘E’ of ESG. In its report on March 8, 2021, it made a number of recommendations for reporting requirements for companies, including:
- Requiring operators and licensees to disclose climate related data in their financial reports, and/or websites;
- Calling on the industry to be mindful of the gap between investor expectations and what is currently reported, encouraging greater disclosure & transparency;
- Stipulating that disclosure should be both quantitative and qualitative with signalled improvements over time; and
- Encouraging senior leadership teams to model the required behaviors internally.
Hydrogen Policy Development in the UK
By Thomas Reilly on
Posted in Energy Law, United Kingdom
The UK Government has set itself very stretching emissions targets. A reduction of 68% on 1990 levels by 2030 and a Net-Zero target by 2050. To achieve these goals, the UK established a Committee on Climate Change with responsibility for setting a credible roadmap. It does this though a series of four-year Carbon Reduction Budgets,…
Anticipated Changes on Energy / Environmental Policies
By Gary S. Guzy on
Energy, climate, and environment are areas where the policy differences resulting from the final outcome of the election also will be particularly stark. On November 4, 2020, President Trump took the final step consummating his pledge to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. This reflects his early and consistent perspective, embodied in…
High Wire Balancing Act in Paris Climate Talks
By Gary S. Guzy on
The president and his climate negotiating team seem most like the high-wire artist Philippe Petit, who improbably strung a wire between the towers of the World Trade Center and mustered reserves of guts and grace— leavened by intense focus, preparation, and a mild amount of lunacy— to walk between the twin towers.
In order for…
Lock Down of Nuclear Site: False Alarm, with a Lesson Learned
By Raymond Biagini & Scott A. Freling on
Last week the Savannah River Site (“SRS”) in South Carolina, a large nuclear facility owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”), went into a lock down after electronic and canine scans of a commercial delivery truck attempting to enter the facility indicated possible explosive residue on the vehicle. Fortunately, the lock down was lifted…
No Business As Usual in Davos
By Covington Team on
This year, titans of business, government and society face a near tidal wave of anxiety-provoking events and trends in “The New Global Context” they will discuss this week. Rather than upbeat discussions of start-ups and breakthroughs, they will confront some of the world’s most intractable issues just as global events highlight the failure of sufficient …
The Road to Paris 2015: Contrasting Media Perspectives on the US-China Accord on Climate Change and Clean Energy
By Daniel B. Levine & Ashwin Kaja on
As has been widely reported, on November 12 President Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping released a joint announcement on climate change and clean energy cooperation. Beyond the announced greenhouse gas emission targets—for the U.S., to reduce emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025; for China, (i) to peak CO2 emissions by around 2030, with…
Tax Fairness for Renewable Energy
By Allan Topol & Gary S. Guzy on
Congress has a great opportunity to amend the tax code in a way which will benefit the environment, promote American jobs, and foster diversity in our energy sources. It can achieve these results by enacting the Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act.
Since the early 1980’s, oil and gas producers have been permitted to use Master…