19 April 2018
“We don’t believe that we have stranded assets,” said Woodside chairman Michael Chaney when asked about the oil and gas company’s new Scarborough gas field at today’s AGM.
Watch the response here:
This directly contradicts the findings of UK think tank Carbon Tracker which warned last year that Woodside’s $2.5 billion Scarborough gas project in Western Australia was at risk of stranding on a 2C economy pathway.
Chaney’s admission comes in spite of his company’s commitment in 2017 to make public a plan for how Woodside performs in a scenario where global warming is held to below 2C, which the company has yet to produce.
When asked by shareholders what was happening with Woodside’s scenario analysis, Chaney responded:
“The question of two degrees is an interesting one. If you look at the commitments made in Paris and the actions that governments are intending to take, it would be extremely hard to achieve the 2C scenario…a lot more will need to be done.”
Watch his response here:
Since Woodside is one of the 10 most polluting companies in Australia, they should be doing a lot more to try to achieve the 2C scenario, including producing a scenario analysis – one of the key principles outlined in the UN Task Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.
Methane emissions
Methane is 84 times worse than CO2 in contributing to global warming. Recently, Woodside became the first Australian company to sign up to the Climate & Clean Air Coalition principles, which aims to reduce global methane emissions. However, it is yet to set targets on reducing methane emissions.
It is unlikely Woodside will set targets within the next year. CEO Peter Coleman admitted that:
“It’s too early for us to do that [set targets]. We’ve really got to spend the next 12 months or so working out what’s a consistent way of measuring, getting consistent measurement techniques in place and then starting to develop an action plan.”