execs focus on methane, lower carbon, collaboration at summit

Meeting the world’s increasing energy demand while reducing carbon emissions is a bigger challenge than any one country, industry or company can solve. At a recent Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York, two Chevron executives talked about the need for collaboration in the energy transition.

Bruce Niemeyer, vice president of Strategy and Sustainability, spoke with business, government and investment leaders at the April summit. Chris Powers, vice president of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage for Chevron New Energies, served as a summit panelist.

We reinforced that we have the capabilities, assets and relationships to help the world transition to lower carbon energy. Our priority is to create lasting value for our shareholders by making investment decisions and forming alliances based on careful consideration of how energy markets could evolve.

“Energy demand in the world is growing,” Niemeyer said, “and simultaneously, we’re attempting to reduce emissions and do that in a way that brings everybody along … what’s essential is that all sectors are at the table and all companies are at the table.” 

Niemeyer noted that the energy industry must work collectively to reduce methane emissions as part of a lower carbon future. We’ve teamed up with:

• The Environmental Partnership, a U.S. oil and natural gas organization focused on improving the industry’s environmental performance. 
• The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, an international, CEO-led initiative that aims to accelerate the industry response to climate change. 
• The Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Center (METEC) of Colorado State University, which researches emissions from oil and gas infrastructure. Chevron serves on the METEC Industrial Advisory Board.

Innovative technology will also be key in the journey toward a lower carbon future. Powers noted that we are investing in companies to pilot technologies in our search for scalable solutions in the carbon capture, utilization and storage arena.

“We view our role as delivering affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner energy in alignment with the needs of shareholders and societal expectations,” Powers said.