Climate Change and the Oil Industry: Common Problems, Different Strategies

Skjærseth, Jon Birger; Skodvin, Tora

doi:10.1162/152638001317146363

Cited by 80 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Early studies have examined the attitudes and strategies of major global oil companies toward the tradeoff between profitability and carbon emissions [1,2,9,10], typically based on case studies. The main finding is that the major multinational oil companies have adopted very different strategies, and the divergence can be caused by corporate-specific factors and varying stakeholder pressures.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Carbon Emission Performance of Independent Oil and Natural Gas Producers in the United States

Wang

2018

Sustainability

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Abstract:The oil and natural gas producers have undergone a lot of pressures to curb their carbon emissions as part of the global efforts to address the climate change problem. This paper aims to examine the carbon emission performance of a set of independent oil and natural gas producers in the United States for the period 2011-2015. For each producer, we manually collect its drilling, oil production and gas production data from the annual reports, and extract the carbon emissions data from the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). We develop empirical models based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach and the Malmquist index measurement. The proposed DEA models generate unified efficiency scores to capture the carbon emission performance under natural disposability and managerial disposability respectively. Then the DEA-based Malmquist indexes are derived to measure the change of carbon emission performance over time. We are able to identify climate leaders and laggards among the producers. Furthermore, we find that the performance has improved from 2012 to 2015 under natural disposability. Under managerial disposability, the indexes exhibit significantly greater dispersions than the indexes under natural disposability, and there is an industry-wide loss of efficiency in terms of technical change. The sustainable development of the independent oil and gas producers requires them to invest more in emission mitigation measures, such as energy conservation, leak detection and repair, flaring reduction, and even renewable energy.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Business leaders, policymakers and researchers have reached a consensus that limiting the carbon emissions from the oil and natural gas industry is an important task in coping with the challenge of climate change [1,2]. Consequently, the industry has undergone a lot of pressures to take actions to mitigate the carbon emissions [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon Emission Performance of Independent Oil and Natural Gas Producers in the United States

Wang

2018

Sustainability

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“…The sharp contrast in target stringency is a reflection of the significant difference in the strategies adopted by the companies in the two regions in response to climate change. The literature has shown that the oil and gas companies in the EU have taken more proactive policies, while the US companies have adopted more reactive strategies [28]. The proactive policies of the EU firms may drive them to set more aggressive targets.…”

Section: Target Stringencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The proactive policies of the EU firms may drive them to set more aggressive targets. The reasons for the difference in climate strategies of the oil and gas firms may be found in the political, regulatory and societal contexts [28]. The Materials sector in the EU set significantly more stringent targets than the US (p < 0.01).…”

Section: Target Stringencymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparative Study of Firm-Level Climate Change Mitigation Targets in the European Union and the United States

Wang

2017

Sustainability

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While the debate on global and national carbon emission targets has dominated every major climate change conference, setting firm-level climate change mitigation targets has become an increasingly important issue. In this paper we present illustrative evidence on cross-country and cross-industry differences of the firm-level mitigation targets among some of the largest corporations in the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) with regard to five aspects, i.e., target adoption, target metric, target scope, target stringency, and target completion. We find that overall 25% of the firms have not set up emission targets. The EU firms are significantly more likely to use intensity targets than the US firms. The EU firms are twice as likely as the US firms to incorporate indirect emissions from the supply chain into the scope of their targets. The Energy and Materials sectors in the EU set significantly more stringent targets than their US counterparts. The energy sectors of the EU and the US in general have not made satisfactory progress toward accomplishment of the targets. Based on these findings, we discuss the most pressing issues that should be addressed by policymakers and firm managers in different regions and sectors with regard to target-setting.

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“…What little analysis exists of the consequences of climate change for the petroleum sector is mostly from the early 2000s, with a peak around 2002 Springer, 2002;Van den Hove, Le Menestrel, and de Bettignies, 2002;Le Menestrel, van den Hove, and de Bettignies, 2002;Skjaerseth and Skodvin, 2003;. Given the fast pace of change in the petroleum sector, in climate science and in climate politics, much of this literature is now outdated.…”

Section: Climate Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Future Petroleum Geopolitics: Consequences of Climate Policy and Unconventional Oil and Gas

Øverland

2015

Handbook of Clean Energy Systems

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Advances in unconventional oil and gas production and the possible adoption of a more effective international climate policy may impact on supply–demand balances in the petroleum sector, causing shifts in financial flows and capital accumulation. Such changes may in turn lead to shifts in the power balance between oil and gas exporting and importing countries. Because the relationship between exporting and importing countries in the petroleum sector is asymmetric, with a few exporting countries benefiting from the combined flows of revenue from many importing countries, exporting countries stand to lose more from a change in the status quo. The following interstate relationships may be particularly sensitive: the United States and the Gulf countries, Russia and the EU member states. Unconventional oil and gas may also play a role in the emerging superpower competition between China and the United States. The geopolitical changes one expects from unconventional oil and gas and climate policy depends on how one understands the current geopolitical situation in various parts of the world, and how strong the current geopolitical competition is seen to be.

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Climate Change and the Oil Industry: Common Problems, Different Strategies

Cited by 80 publications

References 8 publications

Carbon Emission Performance of Independent Oil and Natural Gas Producers in the United States

Carbon Emission Performance of Independent Oil and Natural Gas Producers in the United States

A Comparative Study of Firm-Level Climate Change Mitigation Targets in the European Union and the United States

Future Petroleum Geopolitics: Consequences of Climate Policy and Unconventional Oil and Gas

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