KPI: Greenhouse gas emissions

Our biggest reductions since 1998 have come from phasing out the continuous venting of natural gas at oil production sites, and from the programme we launched in 2001 to end the continuous flaring of gas. Improvements in energy efficiency at our refineries since 2002 have also helped.

In 2008, Shell controlled or operated facilities emitted 75 million tonnes of GHGs, (measured on a CO2 equivalent basis), about 7 million tonnes lower than the previous year, and approximately 30% below 1990 levels.

Most of the difference between 2007 and 2008 was due to changes in our portfolio, as we sold a number of refineries. Another major contributor was reduced flaring outside Nigeria in our Exploration & Production business.

This data is based on direct emissions and includes significant operations of joint ventures and associated companies we control or those where we are the operator. In 2008, we restated our direct GHG data. For more on this restatement and the limitations of our GHG data, see more about our GHG data.

In response to requests by the financial community we are also now providing information on our GHG emissions on an equity basis. This is our share of the emissions from entities based on ownership.

We estimate that these direct equity emissions were approximately 89 million tonnes in 2008.

We are in the process of estimating the emissions from the ventures we do not control where data is not currently available. As we get better information on these ventures we will update this number.

Visit our climate change section

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Emissions by scope
Below we report the direct (scope 1) emissions that come from significant operations of joint ventures and associates we control and those where we are the operator. We also report scope 2 emissions. These are indirect emissions that come from the facilities of others when providing electricity or heat and steam to our operations. These are also reported here on a “control” basis. Scope 3 emissions are those emissions that we estimate come from the use of our products.

Emissions by sector
Here we report the breakdown of our emissions by business sector for 2008. These are the direct emissions from significant operations of joint ventures and associates we control and those where we are the operator.
 

Emissions intensity
Emissions intensity is a measure of the amount of GHG produced for each unit of oil or gas produced by our upstream operations or refined by the downstream facilities we operate or control. It is the total amount of GHGs emitted (direct and indirect) per unit of output.

Our Gas and Power business is not included. The diverse nature of this business does not lend itself to using a single metric such as ‘tonnes of production’ as is done by our other businesses.

Chart 3 and 4: Carbon dioxide (CO2) and Methane

Carbon dioxide (CO2)

Carbon dioxide (CO2) represented over 95% of our total GHG emissions in 2008. See the explanation of the reduction in our overall GHG emissions on the first tab of this page to see why our CO2 emissions fell by 7 million tonnes last year.

Methane

In 2008, methane represented around 3.5% of our total GHG emissions. The majority of our methane emissions occur upstream, during oil production, when flared gas is not completely combusted or when small amounts of natural gas are vented. We ended all continuous venting of the gas produced at oil wells in 2003. All new facilities avoid continuous venting, in line with our Global environmental standards.

In 2008, methane emissions were 126 thousand tonnes, or approximately 2.7 million tonnes CO2 equivalent. This was a 5.5% increase from 2007. The rise in emissions in 2008 reflects the inclusion of an entity in Canada.

Since 2000, programmes to end venting in Brunei and Malaysia and the flaring reduction programme in Nigeria have reduced our methane emissions by more than 50%, or by approximately 135 thousand tonnes. This is equivalent to nearly 3 million tonnes of CO2.

This data is based on direct emissions and includes significant operations of joint ventures and associated companies we control or those where we are the operator.

In 2008, we restated our direct GHG data. For more on this restatement and the limitations of our GHG data, see more about our GHG data.

Chart 4 and 5: Nitrous oxide and Hydrofluorocarbons

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) and hydrofluorocarbons are powerful GHGs, though together they represented less than 1% of our total GHG emissions in 2008.

Nitrous oxide (N₂O)

Very small quantities of N₂O are emitted when oil and gas are burnt. In 2008, burning fuel at our operations led to emissions of nearly 2,000 tonnes of N₂O, equivalent to less than 0.6 million tonnes of CO2. Our N₂O emission levels have not changed significantly since 1999.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are used as refrigerants. We emit a tiny amount - 21 tonnes in 2008, equivalent to approximately 28,000 tonnes of CO2 – mainly at our major refineries and chemical plants. Our HFC emissions have been rising, since we are using them instead of ozone depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in refrigeration systems and other processes.

This data is based on direct emissions and includes significant operations of joint ventures and associated companies we control or those where we are the operator.

In 2008, we restated our direct GHG data. For more on this restatement and the limitations of our GHG data, see more about our GHG data.