LFJM COP 2020

Honorable members of the COP, my name is Hannibal Anthon, and I am here on behalf of ExxonMobil, and with me, Luka Citron, here on behalf of Total. Together, we represent the transnational firms during the 2020 COP Copenhagen. 

Climate change is an undeniable crucial issue in our modern world. As major producers of energies around the world, we are aware of our central role and our massive impact on this pivotal matter. We are conscious that our sector is responsible for 25,9% of CO2 emissions according to the fourth IPPC report, making it the most polluting human activity. These numbers stress the importance of our mobilisation and motivates us to make a strong and impactful change. 

Over the past years, our workers, leaders and employers, have pushed for a greener and more durable production. We have partnered with scientists around the world to research and find solutions for this problem, that has allowed us to develop low emission bio fuels, and contribute to cost affective carbon capture and storage technologies. 

Nevertheless, the global economy relies heavily on our sector and industry to fuel its growth. We are therefore highly concerned of the economical effects of the implantation of policies and sometimes sanctions on our sector as a result of the decisions made during this COP. We want to highlight the importance of a long term transition, that will allow a progressive and coordinated conversion. Furthermore, we would also like to stress that penalising our industry would lead to mass disruption of our activity, and as a direct consequence substantial growth of unemployment rates around the world. For example in the USA, our sector employs over 6.4 million Americans. 

Last but not least, it is crucial to us that governments and organisations present during this sitting, work together to find a global compromise to this ever-growing issue. We strongly hope that our interests and concerns will be taken into account in the decisions made in Copenhagen.