OIL AND GAS CLIMATE INITIATIVE (2019)

Member Companies

1. BP plc
2. Chevron
3. CNPC
4. ENI S.P.A.
5. Equinor ASA
6. ExxonMobil Corporation
7. Occidental Petroleum Corporation
8. Petroleo Brasileiro SA
9. Repsol SA
10. Royal Dutch Shell plc
11. Saudi Aramco
12. Total S.A.

ROLE OF GAS

Focus:  Actions that help to improve the climate performance of natural gas across the gas value chain.

Aim:  Optimize the ability of natural gas to play a positive role in the energy transition, in the short and long term.

Why? Natural gas can immediately lower greenhouse gas emissions by replacing coal in the energy mix. It can support intermittent renewables by providing sufficient flexible and base-load power. Longer-term, it can be used as a feedstock for zero-carbon hydrogen, when combined with CCUS.

1. Methane Intensity Target: Brought new member companies into OGCI’s 2025 methane intensity target and worked on an action plan to sustain progress.

2. Zero Routine Flaring:  Working with member companies to align definitions in order to enable aggregated reporting and accelerate progress.

3. Partnerships: Launched a strategic partnership with the Methane Guiding Principles, which moved its secretariat to OGCI in 2019. Joined the UN-Environment Global Alliance to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas sector.

4. Technology: Developing an action plan to facilitate the deployment of new technologies supported by OGCI Climate Investments.

5. Methane: Supporting a Stanford University-led research programme to update the ‘Global Methane Budget’ and quantify emissions more accurately. Continuing to advance a series of independent studies, with UN-Environment, Environmental Defense Fund and the European Commission. Studies have been completed on methane emissions from oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, European MidStream, North Sea and Australia, and complementary work is underway to fine-tune models. Peer-reviewed publication is expected in 2020. Work with Imperial College London continued to identify action areas through lifecycle analysis

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Focus: Identify and prioritize opportunities for energy efficiency in the energy sector through deployment of high-impact technologies and systems.

Aim: Maximize the potential of energy efficiency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support OGCI’s efforts to reduce carbon intensity.

Why? : The power, industrial and transport sectors emit around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions, but a significant proportion of this energy is lost due to inefficiencies. Reducing this energy waste is critical to achieving global climate goals.

1. Analysis:  Surveyed OGCI member companies’ practices in energy efficiency in order to identify priority areas where OGCI can deliver the greatest impact and define a pathway and enablers to achieve it.

2. Carbon Intensity:  Supporting the development of a carbon intensity target by identifying the potential of energy efficiency initiatives.

3. Engagement: Continuing engagement with energy efficiency experts, solutions providers, governmental agencies and independent entities that could provide collaboration opportunities with OGCI to maximize the potential of energy efficiency

CARBON CAPTURE, USE AND STORAGE (CCUS)

Focus: Detailed work on economic assessments, policies and regulations at global, country and regional level, as well as storage characterization to unlock substantial investment in CCUS.

Aim: Play a major role in the emergence of a commercially viable, safe and environmentally responsible CCUS industry, capable of mitigating carbon dioxide emissions on the scale required, while supporting economic growth, jobs and industrial competitiveness.

Why?: CCUS is an essential part of a broad package of solutions needed to reach the Paris Agreement climate goals. It is vital for the decarbonization of heavy industries like steel, cement, refineries and chemical complexes, and it supports the emergence of technologies such as hydrogen production, direct air capture and biomass with CCS.

1. CCUS Kickstarter:  Launched a major initiative to facilitate commercial investment in CCUS in industrial hubs around the world.

2. Stakeholder Engagement: Launched a joint strategic collaboration with the Clean Energy Ministerial to further the development of CCUS. Continuing to work closely with national and regional stakeholders in the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, China, Saudi Arabia and the USA to identify how OGCI can help to accelerate progress on the commercialization of CCUS, focusing on policies, regulations and value. This work is complementary to the CCUS KickStarter.

3. CCUS Deployment: Supporting the Alliance of Champions project to identify, activate and energize CCUS supporters, including non-governmental organizations, policymakers, industrial companies, financiers and expert organizations in order to develop a common understanding of the potential of CCUS as a climate solution and as an enabler for the development of low-carbon industry.

 4. Storage: Re-assessing and categorizing global carbon storage resources using the storage resource management system developed with the Society of Petroleum Engineers. The Storage Working Group is engaging with the CCUS KickStarter to provide expertise and resources as required to accelerate the progress of CCUS hubs.

LOW EMISSIONS OPPORTUNITIES

Focus: OGCI’s think-tank, exploring issues of relevance to mid- and long-term global emissions reduction.

Aim: Provide OGCI member companies with a deeper understanding of key medium-and long-term issues, and raise the level of awareness to facilitate both individual and collective action to tackle climate change.

Why?:  As one of the Sustainable Development Goals, climate mitigation requires a range of actions that collectively move towards the goal of achieving net zero emissions, while coordinating with the other goals. OGCI aims to be a catalyst, achieving additional impact by contributing to substantial and sustainable emissions reduction in the short, medium and long term.

1. Prioritizing Actions: Deepened our understanding of how to prioritize decarbonization actions, where OGCI can play a catalytic role.

2. Long-Term Carbon Intensities: Reviewed methodologies for assessing the greenhouse gas footprint of energy products.

3. Sustainable Development Goals: Engaged with stakeholders in Asia, Latin America and Europe to improve the collective understanding of how OGCI and its members affect and can further contribute to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

TRANSPORT

Focus:  How OGCI can be a catalyst for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from transport on a significant scale.

Aim: Develop and implement a set of initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector by 2025, as part of an action plan to facilitate climate-responsible transport.

Why?: The transport sector accounts for 25% of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. It will take time to introduce hybrid and electric vehicles at scale and especially to shift away from oil in heavy-duty, air or marine transport. What we do in the next five years will be critical to reducing the sector’s carbon footprint.

1. Low Carbon Vision: Developing a low-carbon vision for transport with the aim to translate it into a set of practical initiatives, to be initiated in 2020, to deliver short and long-term emissions reductions across light, medium and heavy-duty, marine and aviation transport sectors.

2. Low Carbon Fuel Initiative: Identified a range of low carbon liquid fuels that can address emissions from the existing global fleet of light and heavy vehicles. Evaluating the potential of co-optimized engines and fuels to reduce future emissions.

3. Marine Sector Focus: Engaged with several maritime organizations to identify potential collaborative activities to address the International Maritime Organization’s goal of 50% reduction in carbon emissions in shipping by 2050.

4. Stakeholder Engagement: Convened OGCI and transport sector stakeholders to identify meaningful actions to address emissions.

NATURAL CLIMATE SOLUTIONS

Focus:  Identify and prioritize opportunities for OGCI to contribute to improving the capacity of oceans, forests, grasslands, peat, mangroves and soil to act as natural sinks for carbon dioxide.

Aim: To maximize the potential of natural climate solutions to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration, especially in the short term, while other low carbon solutions scale up. OGCI believes all options to mitigate climate change need to be deployed to achieve net zero emissions with minimum costs and maximum benefits to society. We understand that focusing on natural climate solutions does not take away the urgent need for transition to a low carbon economy.

Why? Enhancing the capacity of natural sinks to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is an essential component of tackling climate change. In addition, natural climate solutions often bring environmental and social co-benefits, such as biodiversity, water security and adaptation to climate change, supporting the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

1. Baseline Assessment: Analyzed existing natural climate solution projects and technical applications, including carbon offset activities.

2. Barriers and Opportunities: Identified potential barriers to natural climate solutions, particularly in terms of policies, mitigation potential and cost range. Analyzed opportunities for OGCI to play an impactful role, leveraging capabilities, in terms of large natural resource projects, experience and data on marine and coastal systems, geographical presence in regions with high potential, financial resources and outreach.

3. Engagement: Joined the Natural Climate Solutions Vision, convened by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Economic Forum, to support the integrity of natural climate solutions and create a credible market to facilitate their uptake. Engaging with key stakeholders to identify the catalytic role that OGCI could play in this area.