We share the concerns of governments and the public about climate change and recognise that the use of fossil fuels to meet the world's energy needs is a contributor to an increase in greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere.
Chevron's Global Action Plan on Climate Change guides our overall thinking here in Australia on a range of associated strategies, including - emissions reduction, efficiency improvements, research investments and new business opportunities.
Our Action Plan on Climate Change
Globally, we are committed to Seven Principles for Addressing Climate Change - our guideline for policy development. The principles summarise the fundamentals for aspects of achieving a sustainable and economically viable legislative and regulatory regime for addressing the risks posed by climate change.
Energy efficiency and conservation are the most immediate and cost effective measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In Australia, we're a participant in the Federal Government's Energy Efficiency Opportunity Program.
Climate Change and Our Response
Opportunities to improve energy efficiency at our oil production facilities at Barrow Island are currently focused on improved measurement and reporting of energy and greenhouse gas emissions. This facilitates the identification of future projects that may yield cost effective emissions reduction. Government legislation requires all large energy users in Australia to undertake an assessment to identify opportunities to improve energy efficiency and to make these findings public. The Barrow and Thevenard Island operations were assessed during 2008 and this is the latest public report on the findings.
With our Gorgon and Wheatstone Projects, we have embraced significant emissions reduction opportunities through a focus on energy efficiency at the early design stages - including the implementation of the latest technologies in subsea production, LNG production and waste heat recovery.
Our World Class Technology
Significantly, with Gorgon – Australia's largest single resources project – we have also identified the opportunity to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 40 percent through the underground injection of the carbon dioxide that occurs naturally in the reservoir gas and that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.
Both our Gorgon and Wheatstone Projects will help maintain energy security domestically and internationally and have the potential to significantly reduce the rate of growth of global greenhouse gas emissions.
These foundation projects have the potential to reduce global emissions by approximately
75 million tonnes per year - compared with the use of coal for electrical power generation. In simple terms, this will have a similar impact on global greenhouse gas emissions as removing all of Australia's road transport and civil aviation emissions.
Supporting Research and Development
We are a long term supporter of research and demonstration of new low emissions technologies. We were a partner in the Geodisk Project and remain a member of its successor organisation - the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies . More recently, we became a Foundation Member of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute.
These partnerships and investments in low emissions technology research and demonstration will assist the Australian community in adapting to the challenges of operating in a low emissions future.
We are actively engaged with Australian Federal and State Governments currently considering policies to address the risks posed by climate change. We're advocates for sound climate policy - in line with our Seven Principles. As part of that process, we have made a number of public submissions to various inquires and reviews considering climate change policy.
Working Together for Tomorrow
We have supported the development of an Australian regulatory framework for greenhouse gas storage. This partnership approach started in 2004, as a member on the Stakeholder Reference Group assisting the Ministerial Council for Minerals and Energy to develop the Australian Regulatory Guiding Principles for Carbon Capture and Storage, and more recently we have participated in the National Carbon Storage Task Force.
Further Reading, Our Submissions -
February 2008 – Garnaut Climate Change Review
April 2008 – Supplementary Submission to the Garnaut Climate Change Review dealing with the design of the proposed emissions trading scheme
May 2008 - Wilkins Review into Complementary Climate Change polices to support the introduction of emissions trading in greenhouse gases
September 2008 – Carbon Pollution Scheme Green Paper
March 2009 – Senate Standing Committee on Economics – Inquiry into the exposure drafts of the legislation to implement the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
April 2009 – Senate Select Committee on Climate Policy
April 2009 – Department of Climate Change – Draft legislation to implement the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
July 2009 – Western Australian Government submission on Greenhouse Gas Capture and Storage Legislation
June 2009 – APPEA Conference Paper on Effectively Promoting Greenhouse Gas Storage in Australia
Latest Submission -
May 2010 - Prime Minister's Task Group on Energy Efficiency Issues Paper