Carbon emissions: Study rebuffs oil company 'net zero' claims

Oil and gas companies' claims of curbing their carbon emissions in line with net zero targets are overstated, according to a new study.

The research has been carried out by the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI), an investor-led group which investigates how companies are preparing for the move to a low-carbon economy.

Earlier, the independent analysis of six large European corporations acknowledged that they had taken big steps on CO2 recently.

But the authors say none of the companies are yet aligned with the 1.5C temperature goal.

According to TPI's analysis, BP and Austrian company OMV are two oil and gas companies of the six assessed who have failed to align with the goals of the Paris climate agreement along as well as 1.5C temperature goal.

The relationship between the oil and gas industry and climate change has evolved rapidly over the last three years, reads the report.

In Europe, back in 2017, no European company had set targets to reduce the carbon intensity of the energy it supplied.

Over the last six months, say the authors of the report, climate ambitions among these companies have risen markedly.

In February, the new head of BP, Bernard Looney, committed to cutting net carbon emissions to zero by 2050 or sooner.

Shell is classed as the most ambitious of the companies assessed and are the closest to a 2C warming scenario.

In April, Shell became the latest to announce ambitious plans to be at 'net zero', implicating to remove as many emissions as are produced, for operational emissions by 2050.

However, despite Shell's stated commitment to having a net-zero energy business by 2050, TPI says that "the claim that it will be aligned with a 1.5C climate scenario is not consistent with our analysis."

"There are ones that have more comprehensive commitments that put them on a path much closer to two degrees than some of the others, said Adam Matthews, co-chair of TPI.

Besides, four of the companies assessed, Shell, Eni, Total and Repsol, are now aligned with the goals of the Paris climate agreement.

TPI point out that all of the plans they have assessed are, to some degree, dependent on carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology and nature-based solutions such as planting trees.

According to the authors, a genuine net zero strategy for the average European oil and gas company would require 100% emissions cuts between now and 2050.

"There are very significant assumptions that need further probing," said Adam Matthews.

However, the authors draw a sharp contrast between the actions of these European companies and oil and gas producers in the US.

None of the dozens of American fossil fuel corporations have public disclosures on climate change comparable to Europe, which TPI says is a concern.

(Source: BBC)