Costa Rica and Denmark hope to create an alliance of countries willing to set a date to phase out oil and gas production and to stop giving permits for new exploration, per to a report from Reuters.
“Restricting domestic oil and gas production in line with what is required to live up to the Paris Agreement goals will be the core focus” of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA), according to documents reviewed by that publication.
In Costa Rica as in other countries, burning fossil fuels is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions. Costa Rica hopes to decarbonize its economy by 2050, and a modernized transportation system is the backbone of that plan.
The country has also considered a bill that would ban oil and gas exploitation forever, though the project has not yet advanced to a vote.
The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance may be launched at the upcoming UN climate summit in November, Reuters says.
However, the level of support for BOGA is so far unclear, and the project is unlikely to have backing from major producers such as Saudi Arabia or Russia.
“Very few countries have taken such steps and we hope that this alliance will be something that will be noticed and hopefully inspire others to join,” Dan Jorgensen, the Danish climate and energy minister, told Reuters.
