Sustainable use: Oil & gas development
What's the problem?
Traditional non-renewable sources of energy - fossil fuels such as oil and gas - have serious environmental consequences through exploration, extraction, and consumption. The release of CO2 through burning fossil fuels is a major driver of global warming and climate change. And prospecting and drilling for oil or gas in or near areas of high biodiversity value, including Marine Protected Areas, continues to pose a major threat to sensitive habitats and species around the world.
More on oil & gas threats...
More on climate change threats...
More on oil & gas threats...
More on climate change threats...
Corporate credibility means setting standards
WWF is working to reduce the impacts of oil and gas exploration and development on marine habitats.
WWF's vision is that by 2050 all energy will be sustainably produced from renewable sources to prevent further damaging climate change and to achieve an energy-secure future compatible with the goal of sustainable development. This means dramatically scaling up the use of renewable energy, vastly increasing the efficiency by which we generate and use energy, and, ultimately, no further oil and gas exploration.In the meantime, we are working to ensure that existing oil and gas exploration and production, as well as de-commissioning of facilities, do not impact the areas of greatest importance for biodiversity and minimize impacts on all other areas. We are also working to ensure that the industries do not threaten the well-being of communities, particularly local communities and indigenous people.
To achieve this, we are working to:
We also aim to protect sensitive marine habitats and species from the impacts of climate change.
Norway puts nature before oil
The Lofoten Islands in northern Norway were designated as a temporary petroleum-free zone by the Norwegian government in December 2003, after successful campaigning by WWF. The decision was a huge setback for the oil industry which had claimed that it could exist in harmony with valuable and vulnerable environments.
Norsk Hydro and Statoil had been pressuring the Norwegian government to open up the region to exploration, claiming that it held oil and gas reserves worth an estimated 100 billion Euros. The Norwegian government countered, with the support of WWF, saying that the industry had failed to demonstrate that it could operate without risk to the environment.
The Lofoten Islands are home to the world's largest cod and herring stocks, pods of sperm whales and killer whales, some of the largest sea bird colonies in Europe, including puffin and cormorant, and the world's biggest cold-water coral reef, which was only discovered in 2002.
The island community is almost entirely dependent on fishing and tourism for survival. Both activities would be threatened by the proposed oil development.
For example, WWF and scientists stressed that oil exploration and production in this area could be catastrophic for the 700 killer whales that feed on the schools of herring wintering in the waters near the Lofoten Islands. The whales also give birth in the sheltered waters between the islands and the mainland - a spectacle that brings tourists from around the world.
Norwegian government scientists also said the direct impact of oil development - from seismic survey work, which can disturb fish and whales, to the devastation caused by an oil spill - would be disastrous for sensitive marine environments such as those of the Lofoten Islands.
With protection granted until 2006, WWF is working to secure permanent protection for this valuable and diverse region. We are also working to ensure that oil and gas development does not occur in other highly sensitive areas of the Barents Sea, one of our focal marine ecoregions.
Further information:
The Lofoten Islands are home to the world's largest cod and herring stocks, pods of sperm whales and killer whales, some of the largest sea bird colonies in Europe, including puffin and cormorant, and the world's biggest cold-water coral reef, which was only discovered in 2002.
The island community is almost entirely dependent on fishing and tourism for survival. Both activities would be threatened by the proposed oil development.
For example, WWF and scientists stressed that oil exploration and production in this area could be catastrophic for the 700 killer whales that feed on the schools of herring wintering in the waters near the Lofoten Islands. The whales also give birth in the sheltered waters between the islands and the mainland - a spectacle that brings tourists from around the world.
Norwegian government scientists also said the direct impact of oil development - from seismic survey work, which can disturb fish and whales, to the devastation caused by an oil spill - would be disastrous for sensitive marine environments such as those of the Lofoten Islands.
With protection granted until 2006, WWF is working to secure permanent protection for this valuable and diverse region. We are also working to ensure that oil and gas development does not occur in other highly sensitive areas of the Barents Sea, one of our focal marine ecoregions.
Further information:
- News: Norway to put nature before oil
- Factsheet: No oil for Lofoten (pdf)
- Profile: Barents Sea