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Africa has a fight on its hands rising to the challenge of carbon management but the technology to do it is maturing fast
The environmental challenge facing the planet has thrust the oil and gas industry into the spotlight perhaps more than at any other time. This presents it with both challenges and opportunities: one of them is the management of carbon dioxide arising out of upstream field operations.
Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is routinely cited as one of the bad guys of climate change, perhaps the most damaging of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions blamed for choking the atmosphere. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the leading body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) – has called for dramatic cuts in GHG emissions, including CO2, to turn things around.
The IPCC has prescribed a 50 per cent to 80 per cent reduction of GHG emissions by 2050, in order to stabilise GHG emissions at 450 PPM, thereby limiting global warming to 2oC.
This is a big test for all, however, not just those participants in the energy sector.
To meet these emissions targets, the world will require a mix of sustainable energy technologies related to energy efficiency, renewable energy and clean fossil fuel based power generation. The same challenges apply to the power sector, the transport industry, and pretty much all segments of the global economy, including ordinary households.
At the same time, the oil industry – in the front line of hydrocarbons production – needs to be seen taking a lead in fighting CO2 and other harmful emissions.
And it is. A number of emerging technologies are tackling carbon head on. These include carbon capture and storage (CCS) techniques, one of the high potential technologies now under scrutiny by oil companies, the world over.