U.S. oil major ExxonMobil has created a new business named ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions to commercialise its extensive low-carbon technology portfolio.
ExxonMobil said on Monday that the new business would initially focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS), one of the critical technologies required to achieve net-zero emissions and the climate goals outlined in the Paris Agreement .
ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions is advancing plans for more than 20 new carbon capture and storage opportunities around the world to enable large-scale emission reductions. The company plans to invest $3 billion on lower-emission energy solutions through 2025.
The business will be led by Joe Blommaert , who has more than 30 years of experience in the industry with leadership roles in technology advancement, product marketing, and operations. He was also elected as a vice president of ExxonMobil Corporation.
As for CCS is the process of capturing CO2 that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere from industrial activity, and injecting it into deep geologic formations for safe, secure, and permanent storage.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency agree that CCS is one of the most important low-carbon technologies required to achieve societal climate goals at the lowest cost. CCS is also one of the only technologies that could enable some industry sectors to decarbonize, including the refining, chemicals, cement, and steel sectors.
It is worth noting that ExxonMobil has more than 30 years of experience in CCS technology and was the first company to capture more than 120 million tonnes of CO2, which is equivalent to the emissions of more than 25 million cars for one year. ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions will also look to leverage its parent company’s experience in the production of hydrogen.
Darren Woods , chairman and CEO of Exxon, said: “ With our demonstrated leadership in carbon capture and emissions reduction technologies, ExxonMobil is committed to meeting the demand for affordable energy while reducing emissions and managing the risks of climate change.
“ We are focused on proprietary projects and commercial partnerships that will have a demonstrably positive impact on our emissions as well as those from the industrial, power generation and commercial transportation sectors, which together account for 80 per cent of global CO2 emissions ”.
The new business will also seek to develop partnerships and collaborations on a wide range of technologies, and be responsible for the marketing of emission-reduction credits created through the business’s sequestration projects.
Such projects and partnerships in the CCS segment include projects along the Gulf Coast, in Wyoming, the Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, Singapore, and Qatar.
The new projects will complement ExxonMobil’s current carbon capture capacity in the United States, Australia and Qatar, which totals about 9 million tonnes per year, the equivalent of planting 150 million trees every year.
ExxonMobil noted that it had spent more than $10 billion since 2000 to develop and deploy higher-efficiency and lower-emission energy solutions across its operations.