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Energy Transition
Game-changing technologies for a
1.5˚C future At a webinar to mark the launch of DNV’s Energy Transition Outlook 2021, global energy and finance leaders discussed which technologies will drive deep decarbonisation, where the opportunities lie and how the energy transition can be accelerated. HE CLEAR MESSAGE from DNV’s latest Energy Transition Outlook is that, despite the efforts being made, and progress in electrification and renewables, the energy transition is not progressing fast enough to achieve the 2050 net zero emissions Paris goals and limit global warming to 1.5˚C. Fossil fuels, especially gas, will still constitute 50% of the global energy mix by 2050, making the need to invest in and scale hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) all the more important. At the webinar session, David Eyton, EVP, Innovation & Engineering, bp; Arne Sigve Nylund, EVP, Projects, Drilling & Procurement, Equinor; Andrian Dacy, global head of Transportation, JP Morgan; and Geir Bjørkeli, CEO, Corvus Energy discussed which technologies could be game changers for a 1.5˚C future. Kicking off the discussion, Eyton commented, “We can’t wait for gamechanging technologies to address climate change – that means game over for the world,” he said. “What would be game changing would be to scale up and deploy the technologies we have at pace. By investing and deploying them we will drive the costs down.” He noted the progress in wind and solar, although there is a need to manage cost-effective sources of energy storage for intermittency. “We already have electrification of transport, and I am confident battery challenges will continue to improve, and grid-to-grid can help address intermittency,” he said. “At bp, we’re scaling up bioenergy production, taking an integrated approach, investing in digital technologies, which have the capacity to optimise systems, and doubling external investment in innovation to our corporate venture capital arm.” He added that bp have established a new Innovation & Engineering capability, combining science, engineering, digital and new business models. Equinor, which in common with bp is looking to be a net zero company by 2050, will ensure it plays a leading role in the energy
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Decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors such as shipping will be critical to achieve climate change goals.
transition through three initiatives: optimising oil and gas, accelerating renewables and working hard on low carbon solutions, said Nyland. “We have to reduce emissions from our current oil and gas assets, and we are working hard on that,” he said. “We are at a good starting point in reducing emissions, being carbon efficient, but we are now working with concrete initiatives when it
What would be game changing would be to scale up and deploy the technologies we have at pace.”
comes to power from shore, to supply power to installations through offshore floating wind farms and other initiatives. “We need to be profitable in a very volatile market,” he stressed. “New projects coming onstream by 2030 will have a break even point below US$35 a barrel, and payback time less than two and a half years; this is important because we need cash flow to finance the transition going forward.”
Decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors The DNV report says that decarbonising hardto-abate sectors such as shipping, aviation and heavy industry requires far greater scaling of hydrogen, e-fuels and biofuels, predicting that combined, hydrogen and e-fuels will cover only 5% of global energy demand by 2050. Discussing the technologies with the greatest potential to decarbonise, Dacy said
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