United Nations (UN) human rights experts have warned several banks against collaborating with Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, as the state-owned oil and gas company’s fossil fuels exploration is contributing to global warming, Financial Times reported.
According to Reuters, the group of UN experts expressed their concerns in a letter sent to Aramco but did not specify the details of the adverse effects oil production has on human rights.
While the Financial Times is singling out the Saudi oil giant, claiming that it is currently the number one contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, a recent report published by the Carbon Disclosure Project contradicts this statement, claiming Saudi Aramco is contributing with 4.5% of global emissions.
According to this Bloomberg article, however, the company only discloses Scope 1 and 2 emissions, adding that those emissions come from a company’s assets, like burning gasoline in its vehicles, or from its energy consumption, such as using oil-powered utilities.
“If companies continue to extract fossil fuels at the rate they have been doing over the past 28 years, it is estimated that the global average temperature will rise by up to 4°C, which will result in the possible extinction of a multitude of species and seriously threaten world food production,” Active Sustainability warned.
The UN experts called out major banks like Citi, Goldman Sachs, and BNP Paribas, saying that by not taking the steps necessary with their clients, they, too are enabling the situation.
ClientEarth also criticized the oil company for its alleged plans to explore more reserves and produce more fossil fuels.
“This means it [Aramco] will be knowingly worsening climate-related human rights impacts in Saudi Arabia and across the world,” ClientEarth’s press release read.
“By failing to address its role as the single biggest corporate emitter of greenhouse gases across the planet, Aramco is committing a huge violation of human rights law,” ClientEarth added. “People in every country, on every continent are affected by climate change, which is fuelled by Aramco’s actions.”
But despite claiming to support the Paris Climate Agreement by reducing its carbon emissions and helping “to limit the global average temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels,” Saudi Aramco has failed to achieve its set goals.
According to Bloomberg, in order to achieve the goals set for 2050, oil companies, including Aramco must “sharply cut emissions much sooner.”
“It’s hard to see how any company that supports the Paris Agreement does not need to substantially cut absolute emissions by 2035,” said think tank Carbon Tracker’s Mike Coffin, as cited by Bloomberg.
