Cenovus aims for ‘net zero’ emissions
OILSANDS PRODUCER AIMS FOR ‘NET ZERO’ GHG EMISSIONS BY 2050
Oilsands producer Cenovus Energy Inc. said Thursday it will aim to achieve “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, joining a recent cavalcade of oil companies trumpeting their environmental aspirations.
The Calgarybased firm also announced it intends to reduce its emissions per barrel by 30 per cent by 2030, while keeping flat its total emissions.
Reaching the 2050 goal will require advances in technologies including carbon capture and storage that are not currently economically practical, conceded Al Reid, executive vicepresident in charge of sustainability, in an interview.
But he said the company has a clear path forward to the 2030 target, adding the announcement is designed to draw the attention of both internal and external stakeholders.
“It’s aimed at a very broad audience to say ... we’re so committed we’re going to set targets and we’re going to report on those targets on a year-over-year basis,” he said.
Cenovus has delayed planned expansions at its thermal oilsands projects in northern Alberta, which use steam to produce heavy bitumen from wells, because of delays in the construction of new export pipelines.
Reid said the company is hopeful that its commitments — which include ramping up spending by $1.5 billion with Indigenous businesses and reclaiming 1,500 decommissioned well sites by 2030 — will help make peace with opponents and allow growth to take place.
Cenovus’ commitment is a step in the right direction but the industry needs to say less about emissions intensity and do more to address its absolute emissions, said senior analyst Benjamin Israel of the environmental Pembina Institute.
“Flat is a good first step but more needs to happen and potentially before 2030,” he said.
“We need to start to have conversations about ... credible plans to get to carbon neutral potentially before 2030.”
Cenovus’ plan echoes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise during last fall’s federal election that Canada would cut its national GHG emissions to net zero by 2050.
Israel and Greenpeace Canada campaigner Keith Stewart both pointed out that plans to cut emissions in the upstream energy sector do little to reduce emissions in the downstream, where burning fuel creates more than 70 per cent of the emissions.
Cenovus said its 2030 emissions target will be reached via a multipronged approach including operational optimization, incorporating electricity cogeneration capacity into future oilsands phases, more use of solvent technology to reduce steam needed to produce bitumen, methane emissions reductions in its conventional drilling operations and through increased use of data analytics.
GHG emissions at its oilsands operations have been reduced by 27 per cent per barrel over the past 15 years, it added.
Production went from 1.97 million cubic metres in 2014 to 21 million in 2018 while GHG emissions per cubic metre fell from 0.44 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent to 0.322, Cenovus said. Total emissions rose from 871,000 tonnes in 2014 to about 6.8 million tonnes in 2018.