Mele Kyari, the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company,(NNPC) has called on global leaders in the energy sector to ensure that policies and views on the energy transition reflect global energy and economic realities surrounding both oil-producing and consuming nations.
In an article titled, ‘Perspective on energy transition’ sighted by Businessday, Kyari noted that as the call to end the use of fossil fuels in order to reduce global CO emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 is becoming louder, greater synergy is required to achieve sustainable outcomes.
“This requires the global oil industry to play more than one important role; to lower the global carbon footprint, sustain global energy security, and drive prosperity especially in developing countries where population growth remains well above global average.
“In most known instances, the oil industry has remained one of the major contributors to global economic growth, by guaranteeing energy flow to industrialized regions and revenue and taxes to oil-producing countries like Nigeria.
“These dual roles cannot be simply ignored in our quest to address the impact of carbon emissions on the environment. Policies and views on the energy transition should therefore reflect global energy and economic realities surrounding both oil-producing and consuming nations,” he said.
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He explained that the NNPC’s strategy for achieving carbon neutrality is centered around three principles including adoption of low-carbon technology across our operations, deepening natural gas utilization to reduce energy poverty, and investment in clean energy technology and products.
According to him, these principles are most likely to support a smoother transition to a carbon-neutral economy without compromising access to the cheap and readily available energy resources that will be required to address energy poverty and support country-specific development priorities.
“As a national oil company, we believe inclusive policy actions that guarantee access to finance and low-carbon technology are key to sustaining global energy security and equitable growth as the world transits to a carbon-neutral economy.
“As a commercially driven entity, we are leveraging the current industry dynamics to diversify and grow our portfolio in order to maintain relevance in the global energy market. Additionally, we are reassessing the brown and green assets for our Carbon Budget and environmental credentials as part of our transition to an energy company of global excellence.
“The world therefore needs to adopt a more inclusive consensus, one that considers complementarities and trade-offs between and within policies and policy objectives,” he said.
He further stated that slowing down investment in hydrocarbon ventures may provide the right incentive for the energy transition, but it cannot guarantee global energy security in the near future, especially as energy demands grow faster than renewable energy maturation.
