Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached its highest level in at least 800,000 years and is still increasing. Scientists agree that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced dramatically to combat the climate change crisis. However, progress isn’t possible without significant changes to the oil and gas industry.

The sector’s own carbon footprint — operations plus emissions from energy consumed — is at least 2.6 billion tons annually out of the 37.1 billion tons produced by human activity. The bigger challenge, though, is that the end product inevitably produces carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHG). The efforts to move the world’s energy mix toward net zero emissions is a defining challenge for the oil and gas industry and humanity overall.

The petroleum industry is vilified for its role in exacerbating global warming. At the same time, these companies are well positioned to help address the climate problem. The industry has the science and engineering know-how — and increasingly the incentives — to roll back GHG emissions for generations to come.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn has heightened the stark realization that peak oil was really about a peak in demand, not supply. Eventually, the industry must change and make decarbonization a reality. Many in the industry were already committed to net zero goals before the current crisis started (as the figure below shows). But more importantly, these commitments remain even as the companies have seen demand fall off a cliff.

The industry has created three categories to classify their emissions sources, with each featuring its own challenges and solutions. Those are:

• Scope 1 — Direct GHG emissions from company operations.

• Scope 2 — Indirect emissions from energy consumed by the company.

• Scope 3 — Indirect emissions generated by the products.

About

Sandeep Roy is Associate Vice President and Client Services Head for Digital, Energy, Infosys. He is an outcome focused and collaborative leader in the IT services industry with over 20 years of experience spanning consulting, account management, solution development, commercial structuring and delivery management.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeeproy007/

 Source:

https://www.infosys.com/insights/industry-stories/oil-gas-industry.html