Goes aggressively against new oil and gas projects

Environmental organizations from five countries, including Norway, have joined together and created a separate coalition against Equinor’s projects, dubbed “Equinor out of oil and gas.”

The organizations believe the alliance should highlight that Equinor and Norway as the principal owner are not taking the climate crisis seriously enough and demand responsibility: not to build new oil and gas projects.

Equinor has several new oil and gas projects in the pipeline, and these are the ones the alliance believes should be stopped: incursions into the Barents Sea, Rosebank outside the UK, Pays du Nord outside Canada, Bacalhau outside Brazil and the northern Argentine basin.

Last week it became known that The decision to invest in Wisting has been deferred for four years. Environmental organizations called it a “victory for the climate”. The other four projects are in progress.

Polluters like 48 countries in one year

Uplift believes Equinor’s investments in renewable energy should be much higher than they are today.

Low-carbon and renewable projects will account for 20 percent of Equinor’s total investment in 2022, according to the company itself.

The company also told TV 2 that it is “on track to achieve 30 per cent in 2025 and 50 per cent in 2030”.

But Uplift and other organizations believe there is no room for new oil and gas projects if the 1.5 degree target is reached.

– Look at three of the big projects they’re planning, Wisting, Rosebank in Great Britain and Bay du Nord in Canada, says Tessa Khan, chair of environmental organisation, Uplift UK.

There could be more than 2 billion barrels of oil in total, which could lead to emissions of up to 800 million tons of carbon dioxide. It’s roughly the same as the annual emissions of all 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where 1.2 billion people live, she says.

will go to zero

Equinor says they’d like there to be more good renewable projects to invest in, and have even proposed Trollvind – an offshore wind farm on the Norwegian continental shelf ten times the size of Hywind Tampen.

Hywind Tampen is a floating wind power plant in the North Sea, 140 kilometers from land, as of Sunday last week I started to produce electricity in one of eleven turbines.

– We can start the Trollvind project immediately if the authorities give the go-ahead, says Equinor’s press officer Ola Morten Aanestad.

Equinor’s plan is Go to net zero by 2050 when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions.

Environmental organization Uplift believes its plan is “worthless as long as the company continues to invest in fossil fuel projects.”

He points to Khan International Energy Agency And the United Nations, which says there is no room for new oil and gas development if we want to stay within a livable climate of 1.5 degrees.

Despite this clear warning, advertiser Equinor last year reported that the company’s oil and gas production would increase until 2026. That means more emissions per ton of carbon dioxide, although oil and gas will make up a smaller proportion of investments, says Khan.

“environmentally friendly” gas

Equinor does not directly answer questions from TV 2 about whether they think they are doing enough to keep CO2 emissions low.

– We have thousands of employees working on this every day – to reduce emissions from our oil and gas operations, accelerate our renewable energy operations and develop new low-carbon value chains, such as hydrogen, says Aanestad in Equinor.

He also says they are using their expertise to help other industries reduce carbon dioxide emissions using carbon capture and storage.

Equinor also believes that Uplift is completely ignoring the energy crisis we’re in. They say the world needs to go through a transition, not a break.

– Oil and gas consumption should decrease until 2050, but there are no scenarios that predict that it will be zero by then. As long as the world needs oil and gas, where and how it is produced plays a role, says Equinor’s Aanestad.

Equinor says that all fields that organizations work on must be designed for the smallest possible carbon footprint at the production stage. The spokesperson says the company’s oil and gas production has a carbon footprint of less than half the global average.

– Profit on a habitable globe

Uplift disagrees and believes that companies and authorities should instead use the resources to build renewables and not more oil and gas infrastructure in the current energy crisis. They also point out that renewable energy is cheaper than fossil energy.

Building more oil and gas infrastructure now only makes the problem worse. The world must rapidly reduce emissions from oil and gas if we are to avoid climate catastrophe, and that means no new oil and gas fields can be developed by Equinor or any other companies, says Khan of the environmental organization Uplift.

Equinor is part of an industry that puts profits above a livable planet, she says.

The energy company reacts to the Uplift statement.

– It is an incredibly disrespectful statement towards the thousands of hardworking people who work day and night to bring light and warmth into European homes. We need dialogue and cooperation to solve future challenges, not unreasonably distortion of an entire industry, says Anistad.