COP21: Will climate change talks result in change?

The UN-backed global climate change talks, which have just started in Paris, are highly unlikely to produce an agreement that includes robust mandatory carbon emissions reductions targets that would heap further short-term financial pressure on oil and gas producers already dealing with global oversupply and low oil and gas prices, writes Ian Lewis

The patchwork of voluntary national measures, or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) that forms the basis for the Paris talks is also highly unlikely to provide the sort of clarity that producers are looking for regarding the speed at which rising carbon costs will affect their medium to long-term cost of production. So, assessing the economic viability of potential long-term oil and gas field investments is likely to remain heavily reliant on guesswork. "Oil and gas companies should be looking at any sort of language from the talks that could produce a tougher deal in the future. We've seen some discussion of INDCs being revised and made more stringent on a five-yearly basi