Scope 3 target would boost emissions: ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil has no target for reducing carbon emissions from the use of its products because adopting one would increase global greenhouse gas emissions, chief executive Darren Woods said.

Tracking such Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions makes sense for measuring global progress on combating climate change, but there are "significant downsides" at the company level, Woods said today at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston, Texas. For instance, if ExxonMobil had a Scope 3 reduction target, the company would produce less natural gas, and someone else would produce more coal, which would increase global carbon emissions, he said.

"We are growing our LNG business. Every ton we produce backs out coal somewhere in the world," Woods said.

Likewise, ExxonMobil's refineries have the world's lowest carbon intensities, so reducing gasoline and diesel production would make room for more output from a producer with an inferior environmental profile, he said.

"The world does not benefit from that," Woods said.

While ExxonMobil does not have a target for reducing emissions from its products, it plans to achieve net-zero carbon emissions from its operations by 2050, and by 2030 net-zero emissions from its oil and gas production in the Permian basin. It is also continuing efforts to stop pipeline emissions and curtail routine gas flaring, Woods said.

The company has earmarked $17bn for low-carbon projects through 2027, including a planned carbon capture and storage project in Baytown, Texas, that would decarbonize chemical production at the site and allow others to also permanently store carbon emissions. But helping others reduce emissions is not recognized by Scope 3 measures, Woods said.

It is not the production of oil and gas that contributes to climate change, but the combustion of those commodities that adds to emissions, Woods said. Carbon capture and sequestration can help address those emissions "without destroying your economies, without wiping out your industrial processes, without backing out of 100s of years of investment in power generation," he said.

By Jack Kaskey