Environment Report 2017

ENVIRONMENT REPORT 2017

Upstream Oil and Gas Emissions in a Broader UK Context The Kyoto Protocol defines six greenhouse gases (GHG) including CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2

O, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),

perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF 6

). It is widely accepted that GHG emissions are contributing

to anthropogenic global climate change. GHG emissions stem from various sources.

A changing energy supply is helping to decarbonise the UK’s energy mix. An estimated 466 million tonnes of CO 2 equivalent (CO 2 e) GHG emissions were emitted in the UK in 2016 10 , representing a 6 per cent fall from 2015 (496 million tonnes CO 2 e). The reduction largely reflects changes in the power generation sector, which releases just under a quarter of total UK GHG emissions, but accounted for 86 per cent of the fall in emissions since 2015 (25.4 million tonnes CO 2 e). The replacement of coal by gas and increased renewable capacity are key drivers and overall have led to a 48 per cent reduction in GHG emissions since 1990.

Upstream oil and gas operations contributed 3 per cent (14.6 million tonnes CO 2

e) of total UK GHG emissions

in 2016.

Figure 10: Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Upstream Oil and Gas Operations

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)sennoT noilliM tnelaviuqE

20

15

10 OC( snoissimE GHG 2

5

0

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Source: EEMS July 2017

10 Provisional UK GHG emissions national statistics 2016 are available at http://bit.ly/GHGemissions2016

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