Supermajors Join Oil, Gas Climate Initiative

ExxonMobil, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum are joining the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative to mitigate climate change.

The two US supermajors and Occidental will become official members of the initiative on Sept. 24, in one of the strongest signs yet that investor pressure over Big Oil to set carbon emission goals and curb their own greenhouse gas emissions has reached the likes of Exxon and Chevron, Oil Price reported.

With the addition of the three US companies, OGCI’s 13 members now represent around 30% of the world’s oil and gas production and supply nearly 20% of primary energy consumption in the world.

“The new OGCI members are aligned with the OGCI collective goals, including recognition and support of the Paris Agreement and collective reporting. They will also reinforce the capacity of OGCI’s work programs. In addition, each will commit $100 million to the OGCI Climate Investments fund,” OGCI said in a statement on Thursday. “It will take the collective efforts of many in the energy industry and society to develop scalable, affordable solutions that will be needed to address the risks of climate change,” said Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil.

Exxon announced earlier this year initiatives to lower greenhouse gas emissions associated with its operations by 2020, including reducing methane emissions by 15% and flaring by 25%. The OGCI initiative is now made up of BP, Chevron, CNPC, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Occidental, Pemex, Petrobras, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell and Total. Earlier this year, large global investors—representing a combined $10.4 trillion worth of assets under management—urged oil and gas companies to start acting responsibly by tackling climate change.