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Energy transition & net zero

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Can Equinor be climate neutral by 2050? Hilde Røed, Senior Vice President Climate & Sustainability, believes so, and the actions we take in the next five to ten years will be crucial. She has a clear plan and is impatient to get started.

We meet Hilde at Equinor’s office at Fornebu, outside Oslo. The grass is a vivid green, and the Oslo fjord is sparkling blue in the sunshine. It’s an unusually warm day in mid-May.

“It’s hard not to think about climate change when it gets as hot in the middle of May as in the height of summer,” she says. There are several factors and weather phenomena at play, but it’s clear that the climate is changing. Every year in recent years has been the hottest since records began,” says Hilde, and continues:

“Ever since the 1980s, we have known that the climate is changing due to human emissions. Yet, for decades, far too little has been done. The transition is still too slow, but fortunately, we are seeing progress in some areas, such as electric cars and solar energy.”

It’s evident that this is a topic close to her heart. And no wonder. Making things happen is exactly what her job is about. Hilde has worked with climate and sustainability at Equinor for ten years, and the last three as Senior Vice President.

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and affects the entire world. It is more important than ever that companies like Equinor take a leading role in the energy transition that the planet requires,” she says.

“We have an action plan for how we, as an energy company, can contribute. It is an ambitious plan, and I believe it is achievable. We have already taken some big and important steps, but it’s clear, it’s not straightforward, and we must be open about that. Like everything else that hasn’t been done before, you sometimes feel like it’s two steps forward and one step back. But the direction is set. Now it’s about picking up the pace,” she says.

The plan Hilde is referring to is Equinor’s energy transition plan, launched two years ago. It is a concrete action plan for we will cut our own emissions and ramp up investments in renewable energy and low-carbon solutions. The plan specifies how we must develop over the next 10-15 years and reflects our ambition to continue delivering energy to society with lower emissions over time and net zero by 2050.

Status in 2023

Our long-term ambition is to cut our own emissions by 50% by 2030. So far, we have cut 30%.
By 2030, we want more than 50% of our gross investments to be in renewable energy and low-carbon solutions. Last year, we reached 20%.
We have a plan to be net zero by 2050. On the way there, the ambition is to reduce our net carbon intensity by 20% by 2030 and 40% by 2035. By 2023, we had reduced our net carbon intensity by 1% compared to 2015.
Operational factors and the market negatively impacted progress towards net zero. As the expansion of renewable energy and carbon capture and storage increases in the coming years, we expect greater progress in reducing net carbon intensity.

“When we say net zero, we mean that we will be a climate-neutral company,” says Hilde. “This means that we will first reduce emissions as much as possible, before compensating for any remaining emissions through carbon credits or carbon sinks. Our plan is primarily about the path to net zero. What we do as a society in the next five to ten years will be crucial to whether net zero by 2050 is within reach. That is why we have placed great emphasis on what we want to achieve by 2030,” she says.

The fact that the energy transition plan involves Equinor continuing to produce oil and gas for a long time is the most common criticism Hilde hears about the company.

“The world is undergoing a major transition. Fossil energy sources will be phased out, and renewable energy sources will be phased in. When stated that way, it may sound simple, but this is an enormous and complex task. In a few decades, we will change an energy system that is more than 80 percent fossil energy today, while at the same time, the world’s energy needs are increasing.”

She pauses briefly before continuing:

“We may like it or not, but the transition away from fossil energy will take time. So, it’s all about how we can produce oil and gas with the lowest possible emissions. At the same time, we need to quickly develop renewable solutions on a large scale, while also working on low-carbon solutions that contribute to decarbonisation and carbon capture and storage. We must keep all these thoughts in mind simultaneously, or we won’t reach our goal,” she says.

Equinor’s Energy Transition Plan

“Energy Transition Plan 2022” is a concrete action plan based on our overarching strategy and ambition to continue delivering energy to society with lower emissions over time and net zero by 2050.
The plan includes specific measures in three different areas – oil and gas, renewables, and low-carbon solutions – and consists of both short-term and long-term goals and ambitions.
The energy transition plan is based on science and designed in close dialogue with key stakeholders. It uses scenarios from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
We report on our progress according to the plan each year through our annual reporting.
Work is currently underway on a revised version, planned to be ready in 2025.

Hilde has already begun delving into the content of the energy transition plan, and it is clear that this is not the first time she has gone in-depth on how it is structured. A significant part of her job involves internal and external meetings to show how Equinor is working towards the ambition of net zero by 2050.

“We have three strategically important areas we are working on. The first is within oil and gas. Here, it’s about cutting emissions – both CO2 and methane – so that we can continue delivering the energy the world needs with as low emissions as possible. We must adopt new technology and electrify.”

“The second area is renewables, where we work with both wind power and solar energy. Here, it’s simply about speeding up and scaling up. Something that may not be as easy to see from the outside, and which can be frustrating for us as well, is that the time it takes from starting to invest in renewables to actually seeing results is long. An example is Dogger Bank, which will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm right outside Yorkshire in the UK. We were awarded the areas in 2010 and allowed to start building in 2019. Last year, parts of it began producing electricity. When the wind farm is in full production, it will be able to supply enough clean power to six million British homes each year. That will be a milestone,” she emphasises.

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