Oil field services provider Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE) said on Sunday that it is committing to cut its carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions by 50 percent by 2030, and to reach net zero CO2 equivalent emissions by 2050.
Baker Hughes will invest in the advanced technologies it develops to help its customers to cut their carbon emissions.
Since 2012, BHGE has managed to reduce its emissions by 26 percent by using new technology and creating operational efficiencies, the company said in a statement.
"Oil and gas will continue to be an important part of the global energy mix, and BHGE is committed to investing in smarter technologies to advance the energy industry for the long-term," Lorenzo Simonelli, chairman and CEO of BHGE, said.
"Managing carbon emissions is an important strategic focus for our business…BHGE has a long legacy of pushing the boundaries of technology and operating efficiency. Today we take this to the next level by committing to ambitious new goals for ourselves, and to providing lower carbon solutions expected by customers and society," Simonelli noted.
BHGE's oil and gas consultancy Gaffney, Cline and Associates is also launching a Carbon Management Practice, which BHGE says is the first such consultancy to offer quantitative assessment of carbon intensity, evaluation of carbon solutions, and the accreditation of emission reductions.
BHGE's pledge to cut emissions comes as the biggest oil companies face challenges in how to win investors back and how to respond to investor demands to start tackling climate change in earnest.
Oil majors have been facing an unprecedented pressure from investors to set emission reduction targets. Investors also demand higher returns for sticking through with oil companies during the downturn. The world's biggest oil companies also struggle to stay appealing to environment-conscious investors, who see them as the main culprits of carbon emissions and global warming.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More
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