Carnarvon Petroleum joins ‘net-zero by 2050’ club

Australian oil exploration company Carnarvon Petroleum has decided to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 if not earlier.

“Carnarvon Petroleum recognises that climate change is an important global challenge that requires action to transition to a lower-carbon environment.

“Carnarvon has an important role to play in this transition, which offers unique challenges and opportunities for the company.

“We are currently in the process of developing our roadmap to a lower carbon economy and expect that the direction we take will evolve over time utilising a variety of technologies”, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The oil firm believes that as the world population grows that energy usage will rise. The challenge, according to Carnarvon, is to meet this demand in a manner that is within the UN Sustainable Development Scenario and achieves the Paris Agreement commitments.

The company added that it was aware of challenges associated with reducing and offsetting emissions from oil and gas operations as well as the opportunities that the transition presents in alternative technologies and materials but that it supports the commitments of the Paris Agreement and the need to reduce and offset greenhouse gas emissions.

The Australian oil company added on Tuesday that it was committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, if not earlier and that it adopted a new climate policy.

Carnarvon managing director and CEO Adrian Cook stated: “In our first step to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, Carnarvon will offset all its current Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, which at this time are derived from our head office.

“With respect to our future assets such as Buffalo and Dorado, we are committed to working with our partners to reduce emissions from the proposed operations and will continue to develop our plans to offset emissions from these projects as they mature.

“Carnarvon will also seek to diversify its portfolio over time into lower carbon-intensive assets which provide appropriate returns to shareholders. However, in the near term, our short-term goal is to deliver our core projects safely and responsibly”.

In the past two weeks, Carnarvon became the third company to announce plans to reach net-zero by 2050. The two others to do it in recent days are oilfield services giants Schlumberger and Baker Hughes.