The Spanish government is at the forefront of attempts to corner fossil energy. Spain, Kenya and Samoa have joined the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA), promoted by Costa Rica and Denmark to gradually eliminate the exploration, extraction and production of these fossil fuels. Spain's participation was received with great applause at the presentation of this initiative. Spain has prohibited by law the exploration and exploitation of new fossil resources, but until now it had not taken this symbolic step with an international commitment.
Teresa Ribera, third vice president of the Government and minister for the Ecological Transition, participated in that event.
The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) was presented at the Glasgow summit (COP26), was promoted by Costa Rica and Denmark and is considered the first global diplomatic initiative to gradually eliminate the exploration, extraction and production of these fossil fuels.
BOGA brings together countries and regional governments that are committed to no longer granting licenses to explore or produce oil and gas or have taken steps in that direction, and recognize that leaving these fossil fuels in the ground is “urgent and crucial” to address the crisis. climate.
This Alliance was born with 11 accessions, and now even had 21 members: Denmark and Costa Rica as founders and France, Greenland, Ireland, Marshall Islands, Portugal, Quebec (Canada), Sweden, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wales (United Kingdom) and the state of Washington (USA) as core members; California and New Zealand as partners and Colombia, Chile, Fiji, Finland, Italy and Luxembourg as “friends”.
To acquire such status it is necessary to put an end to the granting of new fossil fuel exploration permits).
The BOGA is relaunched in the midst of the debate on the climate ambition that the final political decision of the Glasgow climate summit (COP26) must have.
When the initiative was presented, in December 2021, Spain decided not to join because, as Ribera's ministry alleged then, the country already had legislation that prohibited oil and gas exploration and exploitation, the Climate Change Law. , according to the Efe agency.
Two years later, Spain has decided to join because, as Vice President Teresa Ribera has now defended before journalists, it is necessary to "be heard and when the relaunch of the Alliance can be" a turning point.
The minister argued that in the current context it is necessary to “say loud and clear” that if we want to maintain a global emissions target that is consistent with the Paris Agreement and stop warming at 1.5ºC, clear guidelines must be given. What needs to be done, and for the minister this is “pointing the way out of fossil fuels.”
“We are convinced that we need to transform our energy systems. “Now we have a law that prohibits new exploration and exploitation of any fossil fuel, coal, gas and oil,” he also explained in his appearance, before adding: “We don't have much oil. Coal is relevant, gas could be. And it is prohibited, there are no new permits.”
Ribera stressed that joining the BOGA is “very important” so that COP28 represents “a true point of no return” in terms of fossil fuels.
“We don't have time and we can't just take it for granted that the global balance sheet will turn out well if there is no clear guidance on what we should do with fossil fuels." And what needs to be done "is to phase them out progressively, starting with coal, but also go beyond coal towards oil and gas,” he highlighted.
On the other hand, the Alliance Beyond Oil and Gas revealed that it will provide one million dollars in grants to help Kenya and Colombia plan an orderly economic transition away from dependence on these fossil fuels.
This is the first disbursement of the BOGA fund, first announced at the Sharm el Sheikh Climate Summit (Egypt) in 2022 with an initial endowment of $10 million, contributed by the Sequoia Climate Foundation and other philanthropic organizations. That fund recently received additional support from the Robertson Foundation.
The fund is designed to offer rapid technical assistance to low- and middle-income countries that want to develop their vision of an economy beyond oil and gas, and catalyze bilateral and multilateral financing in the process.
This first contribution for Kenya and Colombia represents a push for the progressive elimination of fossil fuels, so that the planet does not warm more than 1.5ºC compared to pre-industrial levels.
