VIENNA (Reuters) – The head of the United Nation’s climate change body on Thursday condemned Shell boss Wael Sawan’s warning against cutting oil and gas production as “irresponsible.”
Sawan, the oil giant’s chief executive, said that cutting oil and gas production would be “dangerous and irresponsible” in an interview with the BBC aired on Thursday.
The burning of fossil fuels accounts for the majority of planet-warming emissions, which scientists say need to be reduced to net zero by 2050 to avoid the most extreme effects of climate change.
Simon Stiell, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary, responded to Sawan’s comments while speaking at an OPEC conference on Thursday.
“We’ve just heard… an oil major saying that cutting production would be a dangerous thing – that is neither true, but it is also an irresponsible statement at this time within the broader context of what we are trying to achieve,” Stiell said, according to a source at the event.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has withheld media access to reporters from Reuters, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal to cover the event, which ends on Thursday.
Shell declined to comment on Stiell’s remarks.
Speaking at the same conference, oil executives urged governments to shift the focus to limiting oil demand to reduce emissions, rather than pressuring producers to curb supply, which they say serves only to increase prices.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Emma Rumney)
