The head of the UK’s oil and gas sector said it was “taking seriously” the threat from climate change as she outlined plans to cut the industry’s carbon emissions in Scotland to zero by 2045.
Deirdre Michie, chief executive of OGUK, told an an audience of politicians, policymakers and campaign groups in Edinburgh that new and emerging green technologies would be key to meeting the Scottish Government target.
Ms Michie said: “We now need to move the debate on from talking about the need to act, to demonstrating what we are doing to act.
“We have a plan – Roadmap 2035 – which offers a blueprint for net zero.
“It is one of the first industrial responses to the UK and Scottish governments net zero commitments.
“It aims to enable a safe, sustainable and competitive oil and gas industry supporting the UK’s energy needs and its transition to a net zero future.”
The Scottish Government unveiled its emissions reduction target in September last year, with a pledge that Scotland would stop contributing greenhouse gas pollution by 2045 – five years earlier than the UK deadline.
The target relates to “net zero” carbon emissions, meaning that human-caused greenhouse gases such as those released by fossil-fuel vehicles and factories should be reduced to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions offset by tree-planting or technologies such as carbon capture.
Ms Michie said the sector currently contributes 3 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Achieving net-zero target would mean a reduction from 14 million tonnes per year to 0.5 million tonnes by 2050.
This “will require significant investment, new technology and close working with the renewables sector in Scotland and across the UK” said Ms Michie, adding that a combination of hydrogen alongside advances in carbon capture and storage would be key.
Ms Michie said: “Reports by Swansea and Keel Universities found up to 30% of the UK’s gas supply can be replaced with hydrogen without needing to modify people’s appliances.
“With currently 75% of the UK’s heating demand in buildings being met by natural gas, it shows the scale of the opportunity, and the analysis from the International Energy Agency showing that the cost of producing hydrogen from renewable electricity could fall 30% by 2030 as a result of declining costs of renewables and the scaling up of hydrogen production helps us to begin to see what a truly transitional and transformational approach could look like.
“Blue hydrogen derived from gas will need to compete alongside green hydrogen made from renewables – but both will be needed.”
She added that developing a hydrogen economy could “bring far-reaching benefits” to Scotland.
“For example, in Orkney, where a consortium led by the [Oil & Gas Technology Centre] alongside universities and oil companies are looking to create a test centre at Flotta oil terminal for trialling these different types of technologies for use on offshore platforms.”
- READ MORE: Oil and gas firms told to do more on climate
The oil and gas sector currently employs one in every 25 working people in Scotland.
Concluding, Ms Michie said: “The premature shutdown of this industry in the UK would do nothing to impact consumption.
“Those needs would instead be met from increasing the amount of oil and gas imported from across the world,
“But it would also mean we realise none of the benefits this indigenous industry brings in jobs, taxation and security of supply.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here