skip to content
Search

Our climate ambitions

Hywind Tampen: the world’s first renewable power for offshore oil and gas
Photo: Ole Jørgen Bratland
  1. Home
  2. Sustainability
  3. Climate ambitions

Our industry may be closest to the problem. But that doesn’t mean we’re furthest from the solutions.

In Equinor, we believe we have a responsibility and an opportunity to reduce our own emissions and find solutions for systemic change. We have the technology, the expertise and the industrial strength to deliver on the future of energy.

By 2050, our ambition is to achieve net zero emissions. In the shorter term, our ambitions for 2030 are:

  • -50%

    To halve emissions from our operated fields

  • -20%

    To reduce net carbon intensity by 20% including from the use of the products we sell (Scope 3)

  • >50%

    More than 50% of our investments will go to renewables and low carbon markets.

In March 2022, we launched our first Energy Transition Plan, demonstrating how we will achieve ambitious climate targets with concrete actions. It was endorsed by our shareholders at our annual general meeting in 2022.

In December 2023, we were present at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai, and pledged to take part in important initiatives that will help accelerate the energy transition.

COP28

Equinor at COP28

COP28 took place in Dubai in 2023, and Equinor supported three initiatives: the first seeks to help raise the ambitions of national oil and gas companies, the second seeks to help greatly reduce methane emissions and the third aims to triple global renewables capacity.

Read more about Equinor at COP28
Reducing emissions

We aim to remain an industry leader in carbon efficiency

We know that our emissions must be reduced, and it starts with us and how we work with suppliers and partners. It’s about how we make our work more efficient, how we replace gas with electric power, or how we use drones in tracking our methane emissions.

We are assessing numerous large and small initiatives across our company that will reduce emissions daily.

Remaining emissions will be compensated either through quota trading systems, such as EU ETS, or high-quality offset mechanisms. In addition, we plan to invest in the protection of tropical forests as soon as a well-functioning market is in place for the private sector.

Learn more about our contributions to the energy transition

Discover how we are contributing to the energy transition with new technologies and innovations. In our magazine, meet the people who go to work to solve the energy trilemma of climate, affordability, and security.

How we're working towards the Energy Transition

Download our Energy Transition Plan and other climate-related documents:

Loading...

Growing in renewables.

We’re taking our energy experience further

Driven by the opportunities within the energy transition and an increasing demand for electricity from renewable energy sources, we continue to grow our renewables business. We are focusing on offshore wind and on expanding our portfolio in solar, onshore wind, and battery storage assets. Our ambition is for our renewables business to reach net zero emissions by 2040.

Our aim is to be a global offshore wind major, while strengthening our industry-leading position on carbon efficient production.

Five ways in which we contribute to a net-zero future:

  1. We are committed to reducing emissions from our oil and gas production.
  2. We increase our investments in renewables, developing a profitable renewables business.
  3. We invest in new technology, creating and building new low-carbon markets, value chains and businesses.
  4. We will invest in carbon sinks.
  5. We will use our voice supporting the goals of the Paris Agreement and policies instrumental in achieving society’s net-zero goal by 2050.
New value chains for carbon

We’re increasing our development within carbon capture and storage

How do we stop CO2 from reaching the atmosphere and contributing to global warming? Capturing and storing CO2 underground will be an important building block for our net-zero ambition.

We have a long history of storing CO2 at fields such as Sleipner in the North Sea, and we will build on this experience as we participate in developing full value chains for carbon capture and storage, such as through our ownership in Northern Lights JV together with Shell and Total. We will increase our development in carbon capture and storage.

Carbon capture, utilisation and storage
Exploring hydrogen

We’re looking to convert natural gas to hydrogen while capturing carbon

We believe hydrogen will be a key contributor to the energy transition because it is an effective and environmentally-friendly energy carrier.

We are already looking into early-stage opportunities for converting natural gas to clean hydrogen, while capturing and storing the CO2. It is still early days, but we see this as an exciting opportunity for natural gas in the future.

Hydrogen — here’s what Equinor is doing today
Enabled by new technology

We will make it happen with new digital tools and technology

We’re just seeing the beginning of how digital tools can help us deliver energy in more cost-efficient ways, while minimising emissions.

Our digital front-runners are exploring tools and ways of working with big data and machine learning that will enable the whole company and our collaborators to achieve our ambition of net zero. We are seeing the contours of a new wave of digital transformation which will drive sweeping change.

Digitalisation