Greenpeace Calls For EU Ban On New Oil, Gas Projects

BRUSSELS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 05th Feb, 2025) An EU ban on new oil, gas and coal projects would be perfectly feasible, according to a new legal analysis published today by Greenpeace EU. With average global temperatures tipping over 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels for the first time in 2024, the urgency to address the climate crisis is only growing, said Greenpeace.

Fossil fuels are by far the largest contributor to the global climate crisis, accounting for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of all CO2 emissions. A growing number of governments recognise the need to phase out oil, gas and coal, and the International Energy Agency and International Institute for Sustainable Development both say that new fossil fuel developments must stop if we are to drop carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050 and avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

Greenpeace EU climate campaigner Thomas Gelin said, “Fossil fuels are by far the biggest cause of climate breakdown, but even now the EU and national governments approve and fund new drilling, pipelines and import terminals. If you want to kick a smoking habit, at some stage you have to stop buying new packs of cigarettes. The EU must get on track to a world without oil, gas and coal – for a safe climate, clean air and water, and affordable energy for all.

It’s time for a ban on new projects that perpetuate this crisis.”

The legal analysis found that the EU can propose and pass a legislative ban on new fossil fuel projects on its territory. The analysis says that such a ban is required for the EU to meet its climate and human rights commitments, and that the EU has competence to do so as it is a joint response to the climate crisis that faces the EU as a whole. This analysis is published the same month the EU is supposed to present its updated “nationally determined contribution” under the Paris climate agreement, where governments agreed to limit global temperatures rise to 1.5 degrees celsius.

For fossil gas alone, new projects in the EU could cost up to €84.1 billion and additional annual emissions could be equivalent to almost 300 coal-fired power plants (or a quarter of Europe’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2020), putting a strain on European governments’ and citizens’ budgets and pushing the region away from its climate goals, Global Energy Monitor calculates.