Stay informed about Climate change with our free updates.
Subscribe to receive the latest Climate change news every morning, curated in our myFT Daily Digest email.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a significant oil producer, has revised its emissions reduction target ahead of hosting the COP28 climate talks in December. Adnoc, the state energy company, announced on Monday that it will strive for net zero emissions from its operations by 2045 instead of 2050, and aim to eliminate methane emissions by 2030. This move comes amid criticisms faced by the UAE, the world’s eighth-largest oil producer, from activists and a group of US and EU lawmakers regarding its preparations for the climate talks, overseen by Adnoc CEO Sultan al-Jaber.
Concerns have been raised over the perceived conflict of interest between al-Jaber’s role at Adnoc and his leadership in the talks. While al-Jaber has presented his vision for COP28, including a “mid-century” timeline for reducing fossil fuel production without emission capture, climate activists have called for stronger commitments, such as the scaling down of all new production.
Adnoc’s revised net zero goal sets a highly ambitious emissions reduction target compared to other state-owned oil and gas companies. However, it currently only covers scope 1 and scope 2 emissions from its own operations, excluding scope 3 emissions generated during fuel combustion. European oil majors like BP and Shell have already set targets to tackle scope 3 emissions, which represent the majority of emissions associated with fossil fuel consumption.
Nevertheless, Adnoc positions these new targets as evidence of its commitment to play a leading role in reducing emissions related to fossil fuel production, despite its plans for increased oil output in the coming years. Adnoc plans to achieve its scope 1 and scope 2 emissions reduction through increased use of renewable energy in oil and gas production, as well as capturing and storing 5 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually by 2030.
In January, Adnoc announced a $15 billion investment in decarbonization initiatives, including carbon capture and storage, electrification, and energy efficiency, between 2023 and 2027, representing approximately 10% of its total capital spending during that period. The company also stated its commitment to making additional investments in the near future to support its updated decarbonization targets.
In a transparency move, Adnoc released its carbon emissions data for the first time. In 2020, its total scope 1 and scope 2 emissions from oil and gas production amounted to around 24 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. This corresponds to approximately 7kg of CO₂ per barrel of oil equivalent, making it one of the world’s lowest carbon intensity levels. In comparison, Gulf rival Saudi Aramco emits around 10kg of CO₂e/boe, while BP emits around 15kg of CO₂e/boe.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
