Equinor Targets 40% Emissions Cut by 2030

Norway’s Equinor has become the latest oil and gas producer to promise a substantial reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades, following similar pledges by Spain’s Repsol and Greece’s Energean Oil & Gas last month.

Equinor aims to slash emissions at its offshore fields and onshore plants in Norway by 40% by 2030 and 70% by 2040, it announced in a statement on January 6. The company and its partners will invest krone 50bn ($5.7bn) to reach the 2030 goal, which entails a cut in Equinor’s emissions from 18mn to 13mn mt.

The company’s emissions should reach near to zero by 2050, it said.

Cuts over the next decade will be achieved with greater energy efficiency, digitalisation and powering key platforms and fields with renewables instead of gas.

“Further reduction ambitions towards 70% in 2040 and close to zero in 2050 will entail additional measures, further electrification projects, consolidation of infrastructure as well as opportunities to develop new technologies and value chains,” Equinor explained.

The company expects Norwegian oil and gas production to more than halve by 2050, based on the current project backlog. It is looking at harnessing more offshore wind power, as well as carbon capture and storage and gas-derived hydrogen technologies to meet its longer-term target.