Industry leaders set goal to lower emissions to address climate change

The CEOs of 12 leading energy companies have agreed to lower emissions of the companies’ crude oil and natural gas production to address climate change. The international consortium, Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, includes CEOs of BP, Chevron, CNPC, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Occidental, Petrobras, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell and Total. OGCI, established in 2014, said July 16 it plans to reduce the carbon emissions rate of members’ combined upstream oil and gas operations – cutting the output by 36-to-52 million tonnes per year by 2025. The group said the reduction is equivalent to the carbon emissions from the energy use of 4-to-6 million U.S. homes. They will invest in new technologies such as carbon capture to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The 12 companies reportedly produce 30 percent of the world’s oil and gas.