(ECNS)-- The United Arab Emirates, the host country of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28), along with Saudi Arabia, announced during the conference that more than 50 oil and gas companies have signed the "Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter," representing more than 40 percent of global oil production.
The charter aims to accelerate climate action in the oil and gas industry.
Among the 50 companies, national oil companies represented over 60 percent of the signatories, marking the largest number of commitments to implementing decarbonization initiatives in history.
The charter stipulates that the oil and gas industry should achieve net-zero emissions, zero methane emissions, eliminate routine flaring by 2050 or earlier, and work towards industry-leading emission reduction practices by 2030.
On the same day, COP28 President Sultan Al-Jaber unveiled the "Global Decarbonization Accelerator" (GDA), a series of landmark initiatives designed to speed up the energy transition and drastically reduce global emissions, during the World Climate Action Summit.
The GDA is focused on three key pillars: rapidly scaling the energy system of tomorrow; decarbonizing the energy system of today; and targeting methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs).
Encouraging oil and gas companies to join the "Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter" is part of this initiative.
A total of 116 countries signed the " Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge," agreeing to double the global renewable energy capacity by 2030 and annual improvement rate of global energy efficiency.