Oil companies to draw blueprint for net-zero emissions: Report

Committing towards India's target of net-zero emissions by 2070, state-run oil and gas firms Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and GAIL (India) Limited are preparing detailed roadmaps and are expected to ready it by March next year, according to a report by The Economic Times.

The oil ministry is proactively asking the companies to look into "induction of renewable energy and green hydrogen to offset emissions from operations". The report added that the firms have been advised to get ready for an energy transition that is likely to eat into the traditional fuel sales business.

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, recently asserted that India is on the right track as far as its transition from a fossil-fuel-based economy to a green one is concerned.

"What is happening (right now) in India is truly remarkable. In the coming decades, the transition from a fossil-fuel-based economy to a green economy will come from within the existing structure, and the oil companies will facilitate that," the minister said.

To achieve the target, the oil companies will have to "balance between the quantum of greenhouse gases it places into the atmosphere and the amount it takes out", the report explained.

While BPCL is aiming to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, IOCL, HPCL and GAIL are yet to announce a feasible target.

(With PTI inputs)

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