Will the oil & gas giants be capable of switching gears to meet low carbon targets?

In climate discussions, oil and gas companies are painted as the bad guys, but these bad guys will need to play a key role in our shift to a cleaner future. To reduce the warming of our planet it will take working together and using all the available solutions collectively to support emissions reductions and the decarbonisation of the energy sector.

Oil and gas providers have been under fire with new legislation and policies in the works along with mounting pressure from investors to set climate targets and follow through with action. Yet the climate plans from oil & gas have faced backlash from sceptics and shareholders who claim greenwashing is rife. This has prompted studies to monitor whether their pledges are translating into action or if they are simply greenwashing.

There is a growing acceptance in the oil and gas sector that businesses’ need to transition into new low-carbon models, which many now see as inevitable.

There’s a lot of greenwashing out there, nevertheless, there are companies working towards the decarbonisation of their assets and towards clean energy. Who are these energy companies?

BP, the UK’s major oil company, recently predicted that renewable energies will be the world’s main source of power by 2040. According to their update on Strategic progress from FEB 2022, BP has quadrupled its renewables development pipeline since the end of 2019, from 6GW to 24.5GW. This includes its entry into offshore wind. BP is aiming for net zero lifecycle emissions from the energy products it sells by 2050 or sooner — a significant advance from the previous aim of a 50% reduction in their emissions.

The USA’s OXY are pledging to be Net Zero by 2040. A seismic shift with new projects and divisions focused on CCUS and geological storage of captured CO2.

Oxy’s targets and strategy recognise that all avenues of emissions mitigation, including renewables, energy efficiency, methane capture, carbon removal and CCUS, will be needed to reach net zero. While Oxy’s net-zero strategy is multi-faceted, CCUS and DAC are at the heart of their strategy. 

Ultimately we as a species have the capabilities to reinvent entire industries but we need to believe we have the power to do it. If a small group of citizens can make an impact so can countless members of the oil and gas community working to adopt practices that reduce their impact on the planet.

It’s not going to be easy to transform an entire industry. It certainly won’t happen overnight but there is movement in the right direction. New players will no doubt enter the market to provide cleaner fuels as the giants slowly evolve. Read more about why Fossil fuels are so hard to quit in this informative essay by Samantha Gross.

We are attending ADIPEC this week to find out more.