OGCI Chairman Bob Dudley On What Post-Pandemic Recovery of Energy Demand Means for Reducing Global Emissions; Investing in New Technologies and Why a Value on Carbon is Needed

In the first episode of the CERAWeek Conversations series for 2021, Bob Dudley, chairman of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), discusses how the post-pandemic recovery of energy demand “shows the size, scale and complexity” of the challenge to reduce global emissions and why “no one company, no one real industry [can do it alone].”

In a conversation with Daniel Yergin, vice chairman, IHS Markit (NYSE: INFO), Dudley discusses the organization’s initiatives for reducing emissions—including a target to reduce members’ methane emissions by 1/3 by 2024 from 2017 levels—and the development of technologies for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS); the focus of OGCI’s $1 billion climate investment fund; and his thoughts on the IEA’s May 2021 report on pathways to net-zero emissions by 2050—"As the IEA says itself, it is a scenario, it’s not the scenario. This scenario has got a lot of attention and a lot of debate and that’s a good thing because it focuses everyone.”

The complete video is available at: https://ondemand.ceraweek.com/cwc.

Podcast version available: CERAWeek Conversations is also available via audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and Stitcher.

Selected excerpts:
Interview Recorded Wednesday, June 16, 2021

(Edited slightly for brevity only)

• On OGCI’s principal mission and agenda:
  
  “Today the focus is [on] reducing collectively our own emissions, both methane and driving down the energy intensity of what we do. It is focused on technologies around measuring, detecting and monitoring methane reductions through real investments. And it’s working on CCUS, not just desktop studies but actually investing in projects [such as] ‘kickstarter’ hubs around the world. It’s a combination of working together on concepts, but also real action.”
• On the portfolio of companies in OGCI’s $1 billion climate investment fund:
  
  “It focuses on various things like methane reduction: Monitoring, detecting, measuring. We’ve invested in companies with satellites that can measure emissions now—they’re not just a concept, they’re up in the air that can measure methane and detect and notify not just the OGCI companies, but in some cases, countries. We use drone technology—one of them flies around and measures quarterly for one of the [OGCI] company’s emissions offshore.