Addressing Climate Change for a Lower-carbon Future
Addressing Climate Change for a Lower-carbon Future
The world is undergoing a profound and rapid energy transition towards a cleaner, more efficient and diversified energy structure. The oil and gas industry shoulders an important responsibility in meeting global energy challenges. As a major player in the industry, CNPC has been actively cooperating with the government and companies in along the value chain, and strives to provide clean, low-carbon and affordable energy while meeting future energy demand, in an effort to jointly build a sustainable energy future.
Opportunities and Challenges
Continuous growth in energy demand. The world population is projected to reach more than 9 billion by 2050 according to the United Nations’ World Population Prospects. Population growth, together with urbanization in developing countries and industrialization, will continue to drive the growth of global energy demand and consumption.
Equal access to energy. Over 1.2 billion people in the world still do not have access to affordable modern energy, losing the opportunity for equal development. Helping this group of people to have equal access to energy is an important part of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.
Low-carbon transition below 2 °C.Climate change has become a major issue affecting the destiny of the world and all mankind. The Paris Climate Conference has set the goal of limiting global warming below 2℃ by the end of the century, and that the future lies in low carbon and low energy intensity development. Nevertheless, fossil fuels will remain the major source of energy for decades to come, and will continue to dominate the energy market for a long time in the future.
Construction of a high-quality energy system. China's economy has entered a stage of high-quality development. Guided by the new energy security strategy centered on "four revolutions and one cooperation", the Chinese government is actively promoting energy revolution and accelerating the construction of a modern energy system that is clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient, in order to realize high-quality development of the energy system.
Our Strategic Response
We will vigorously develop natural gas to enhance the supply capacity of clean energy. With natural gas as the strategic core for green development, we will devote great efforts to the innovation, application and promotion of the clean and efficient utilization technology of natural gas. We will increase imports of pipeline natural gas (PNG) and LNG overseas while improving our production capacity to secure the natural gas supplies needed by society, thereby providing a strong support to the optimization of China’s energy structure and the construction of a beautiful China.
We will develop new energy and promote low-carbon transition. We take the development of new energy as a new driver for promoting low-carbon transition and have already put it into practice in fields like geothermal energy and biofuels. We initiated the development and utilization of geothermal resources in North China, Liaohe and Xinjiang domestically and in Kenya internationally. We built gasoline-hydrogen refueling stations in cooperation with Haipoer Hydrogen Technology Company, and use solar power at service stations in Beijing. We also continue to explore biofuel technologies.
We proactively engage in the joint efforts on combating climate change with international peers.
We are deeply involved in international cooperation with other OGCI members to address issues on climate change and low-carbon transition in the oil and gas industry. In 2019, CNPC Assets Management Co., Ltd. and OGCI Climate Investments signed the Framework Agreement of Climate Investment China to set up the OGCI Climate Investment Kunlun through a branch of OGCI Climate Investments in China in the form of limited partnership. The Xinjiang CCUS Hub, led by CNPC, was incorporated by OGCI into the world’s first CCUS hub under the CCUS Kickstarter. CNPC actively participated in the discussions of OGCI about CCUS, invited the OGCI working group to visit Xinjiang Oilfield and Karamay Petrochemical, and conducted a feasibility study on the construction of the Xinjiang CCUS Hub. The Xinjiang CCUS Hub will be constructed through joint venture cooperation by fully relying on the OGCI think tank.
Plans and initiatives for greenhouse gas emission reduction and control supported and participated in by CNPC
● Paris Agreement
● Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI)
● China’s National Program to Address Climate Change
● National Plan on Climate Change (2014-2020)
● China Technology Strategic Alliance for CO2 Capture,
Utilization and Storage Technology Innovation (CTSA-CCUS)
China National Petroleum Corporation