More than two years after the signing of the Paris Climate Accord, 60 major investors in the Oil & Gas Industry are pushing for increased efforts to reduce climate change.
In a letter to the Financial Times, the group of investors – responsible for $10.5 trillion in assets – report asset and pension fund managers are increasingly concerned about the effects of harmful emissions on the environment.
The agreement
The Paris Climate Accord is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). It allows each country to determine and report on its contributions to mitigate climate change. Adopted in December of 2015, 195 UNFCC members have now signed the agreement.
Climate change refers to the harmful effects of greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) when they are released into the atmosphere, resulting in warmer global temperatures. The aim of the agreement is to keep the global temperature from rising more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Contributions from the Oil & Gas Industry
The burning of fossil fuels – oil, coal and gas – is one of the major contributors to the release of harmful emissions into the atmosphere. A study on the largest gas, oil and coal producers from 2017 found the industry is responsible for half of the historical rise in average global temperatures.
Reports of 60 investors coming together to push for increased efforts on climate change comes ahead of Royal Dutch Shell’s annual investors meeting. Shell has made ambitious efforts to reduce its carbon footprint – including emissions – by 50 per cent by 2050.
With several US oil and gas companies facing similar shareholder meetings on climate resolutions in coming weeks, there is mounting pressure on the industry to take responsibility for the environmental impact of oil and gas processes.
Measuring for the future
A major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions is routine gas flaring. Gas flaring is the default method for companies looking to get rid of excess natural gas, with many lacking the infrastructure to collect and monetise it. To monitor the impact of methane and CO2 emissions, there is a growing need for measurement in the Oil & Gas Industry.
Ultrasonic flare gas meters such as the FGM 160 can be used to monitor gas flaring, allowing operators to understand how much gas they are burning off and isolate emissions heavy processes. With this information the Oil & Gas Industry can track and reduce its contribution to climate change and report emissions data accurately to relevant governing bodies.
For more information on Fluenta’s FGM 160 Flare Gas Meter, click here.
