• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
EXCLUSIVE: Hydrogen is Up, Pieridae is Out as German Chancellor Preps for Canada Visit August 15, 2022
Historic Climate Bill Passes U.S. House, Goes to Biden for Signature August 15, 2022
BREAKING: U.S. Senate Passes Historic $369B Climate Package August 7, 2022
Researchers Point To ‘Dangerously Unexplored’ Risk of Global Climate Catastrophe August 2, 2022
Koch Network Pressures Manchin, Sinema as Advocates Praise ‘Game Changing’ Climate Deal August 2, 2022
Next
Prev

With Fossils Making Net-Zero Promises, Not All Targets Are Equal

November 23, 2020
Reading time: 2 minutes

skeeze / Pixabay

skeeze / Pixabay

 

Most North American and European fossil producers have published voluntary carbon reduction commitments, but not all targets are equal, Pembina Institute Senior Analyst Benjamin Israël writes in a new analysis, the first of three looking at the future of oil in a decarbonized world.

A chart accompanying Israël’s blog post shows European fossils BP, Equinor, Repsol, Shell, and Total SA with more complete and detailed promises than their North American counterparts, with all of them committing to a 2050 deadline, addressing Scope 2 emissions, and at least partially acknowledging Scope 3 emissions from the eventual use of their products.

All of those plans have taken their share of criticism and second-guessing, as well. But by the Europeans’ standard, the announcements from Canadian tar sands/oil sands producers Cenovus Energy, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL), Husky Energy (since bought out by Cenovus), Imperial Oil, MEG Energy, and Suncor show up as consistently more spotty. They’re still far ahead of colossal fossil ExxonMobil, with no emission reduction targets at all, apart from an incomplete commitment from Canadian subsidiary Imperial Oil.

“Each pledge reflects a different level of commitment to net-zero operations,” Israël writes. “Some players are actively developing concrete plans with intermediate milestones; others have indicated their goal is ‘aspirational’ or have omitted timelines for their net-zero objectives.”

Significantly, “while European companies pledge to address emissions through the supply chain—with Scope 1 and 2 emissions being that associated with oil production, and Scope 3 emissions being those emitted when using refined petroleum products, say, in a vehicle—not a single Canadian oil major has committed to addressing all three.”

Israël’s post includes a helpful snapshot of the distinction between Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, along with a link to a more detailed explanation. The difference matters, because “for most oil companies, upstream emissions account for approximately 20 to 30% of the full life cycle emissions associated with the production, processing, and use of refined petroleum products,” he explains. “Meanwhile, downstream emissions account for 70 to 80%.”

While some fossils have seen responsibility for downstream emissions as a “contentious issue”, Israël adds, “it is not unheard of in proposed responsible business principles. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), for example, is an international policy approach ‘under which producers are given a significant responsibility…for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products’. An EPR approach applied to refined petroleum products would see oil companies claim responsibility for the downstream emissions of their products.”

For Canadian fossils, getting this right will be a matter of market survival as well as climate response, Israël says. “Responding to climate science, investors and governments are putting pressure on oil companies to adopt more ambitious climate targets that include downstream (consumer) emissions, and—more importantly—to develop credible plans with intermediate milestones to meet such targets,” he writes. “Along with costs, crude carbon intensity is expected to become a determinant metric of oil competitiveness as investors and governments call to accelerate the transformation of our energy systems.”



in Canada, Climate Denial & Greenwashing, COP Conferences, Energy / Carbon Pricing & Economics, Energy Politics, Oil & Gas, Tar Sands / Oil Sands, UK & Europe, United States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

TGEGASENGINEERING/Wikimedia Commons
Energy Politics

EXCLUSIVE: Hydrogen is Up, Pieridae is Out as German Chancellor Preps for Canada Visit

August 15, 2022
748
/Pikist
United States

Historic Climate Bill Passes U.S. House, Goes to Biden for Signature

August 15, 2022
221
Brocken Inaglory/wikimedia commons
Severe Storms & Flooding

State-Wide Megastorm Driven by Global Heating Could Drench California for a Month

August 15, 2022
437

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

TGEGASENGINEERING/Wikimedia Commons

EXCLUSIVE: Hydrogen is Up, Pieridae is Out as German Chancellor Preps for Canada Visit

August 15, 2022
748
Brocken Inaglory/wikimedia commons

State-Wide Megastorm Driven by Global Heating Could Drench California for a Month

August 15, 2022
437
/Pikist

Historic Climate Bill Passes U.S. House, Goes to Biden for Signature

August 15, 2022
221
Vinaykumar8687/WikimediaCommons

Solar On Track for ‘Staggering’ 30% Growth This Year

August 15, 2022
157
UK Black Tech/wikimedia commons

U.S. Tech Workers Leaving High-Paying Jobs to Focus on Climate Crisis

August 15, 2022
122
United States Marine Core/Wikimedia Commons

Distributed Energy Gains Ground With Mobile Microgrids, Vehicle-to-Grid Technology

August 15, 2022
114

Recent Posts

Steve Jurvetson/flickr

The Other Kind of Climate Change: Even a ‘Limited’ Nuclear War Would Trigger Starvation, Kill Billions

August 15, 2022
2
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Arctic Warms 4 Times Faster than Global Average, Surpassing Estimates 

August 15, 2022
116
rawpixel

Common Medications Foil Body’s Ability to Cope with Hot Weather

August 15, 2022
92
Max Pixel

Slashing Nitrogen Dioxide Pollution Can Improve Crop Yields, Study Finds

August 15, 2022
50
David Hawgood/Geograph

E-Bikes a ‘Faster and Fairer’ Emissions Solution than Electric Cars

August 15, 2022
103
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region/wikimedia commons

Researchers Study Carbon Loss, Forest Impacts of Northwest Territories ‘Zombie Fires’

August 15, 2022
23
Next Post
Scott Moffatt

In Conversation: Local Climate Action Depends on Reaching Out to a Wider Community, Moffatt Says

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}