20-11-2025
Cancel fossil fuel concessions to fight climate change
A team of IRBio-UB experts participating in COP30 - the climate change summit promoted by the United Nations - urges the cancellation of fossil fuel exploitation licenses to maintain the Paris Agreement.
COP30
The countries participating in COP30 - the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30 in Brazil - must cancel fossil fuel concessions to keep the Paris Agreement in force. This is the main message of a communication published today in the journal Nature and signed by experts Martí Orta-Martínez, Gorka Muñoa and Marcel Llavero-Pasquina, from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona, and Guillem Rius-Taberner, from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGLOBAL).
Bet on renewable energies
As experts now recall in the journal Nature, the Paris climate agreement requires countries to work to limit global warming to well below 2°C and to make efforts to limit it to 1.5°C, to avoid climate tipping points with devastating consequences.
"This last objective requires drastic action, as at the current rate of emissions we will have exceeded 1.5ºC by early 2028. In addition, emissions contained in oil, gas and coal extraction contracts take us to exceed 2ºC.
This latter target requires drastic action, even if we assume temporarily exceeding 1.5ºC and combating it by reducing atmospheric carbon later this century in order to lower temperatures, the most optimistic scenario for most climate scientists,” explains the team, which also participated in COP29 held in 2024 in Azerbaijan
To have a chance of achieving the Paris goals, the team urges nations within the framework of COP30 to mobilize massive investments in renewable energy, and to urgently redefine international legal frameworks so that existing fossil fuel licenses can be revoked.
“The world must stop further fossil fuel exploration, stop granting licenses for new concessions, and cancel most existing oil and gas concessions and coal mines that exist today,” the experts conclude.
Reference:
Martí Orta-Martínez, Gorka Muñoa, Marcel Llavero-Pasquina, Guillem Rius-Taberner “Nations at COP30 must cancel fossil-fuel concessions to keep the Paris agreement in reach” Nature 647, 592 (2025) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03780-4
COP30
The countries participating in COP30 - the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30 in Brazil - must cancel fossil fuel concessions to keep the Paris Agreement in force. This is the main message of a communication published today in the journal Nature and signed by experts Martí Orta-Martínez, Gorka Muñoa and Marcel Llavero-Pasquina, from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona, and Guillem Rius-Taberner, from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGLOBAL).
Bet on renewable energies
As experts now recall in the journal Nature, the Paris climate agreement requires countries to work to limit global warming to well below 2°C and to make efforts to limit it to 1.5°C, to avoid climate tipping points with devastating consequences.
"This last objective requires drastic action, as at the current rate of emissions we will have exceeded 1.5ºC by early 2028. In addition, emissions contained in oil, gas and coal extraction contracts take us to exceed 2ºC.
This latter target requires drastic action, even if we assume temporarily exceeding 1.5ºC and combating it by reducing atmospheric carbon later this century in order to lower temperatures, the most optimistic scenario for most climate scientists,” explains the team, which also participated in COP29 held in 2024 in Azerbaijan
To have a chance of achieving the Paris goals, the team urges nations within the framework of COP30 to mobilize massive investments in renewable energy, and to urgently redefine international legal frameworks so that existing fossil fuel licenses can be revoked.
“The world must stop further fossil fuel exploration, stop granting licenses for new concessions, and cancel most existing oil and gas concessions and coal mines that exist today,” the experts conclude.
Reference:
Martí Orta-Martínez, Gorka Muñoa, Marcel Llavero-Pasquina, Guillem Rius-Taberner “Nations at COP30 must cancel fossil-fuel concessions to keep the Paris agreement in reach” Nature 647, 592 (2025) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03780-4