Climate Change and the Energy Transition
Originally published in Enbridge's 2020 Sustainability Report
One of our corporate strategic priorities is to adapt to energy transition over time, which among other things, will see us execute on renewable self-power opportunities, invest in renewable energy and develop systems to track and achieve our GHG emissions reduction goals.
Our Climate Policy clarifies the key principles that guide our climate-related actions, which are aimed at both managing risks and responding to opportunities. In 2019, we published Resilient Energy Infrastructure: Addressing Climate-Related Risks and Opportunities, our first climate- focused report informed by the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). This foundational report provides insight into how we see the transition to a lower-emissions economy occurring and Enbridge’s role within that transition. It also presents analysis that tests the resilience of our strategy and existing assets against lower-emissions scenarios. This year, we’ve added more details about the climate-related physical risks our company faces and have provided updates to our scenario analysis based on an assessment conducted in early 2021. See our 2020 ESG Datasheet for details.
Our newly announced GHG emissions reduction goals are tied to our longer-term business strategy and are aligned with the ambitions of the IPCC and the Paris Agreement. While we’ve set and met GHG emissions reduction goals in the past, establishing a net zero by 2050 goal represents a meaningful next step in our journey.
The net zero goal is supported by an interim target to reduce our GHG emissions intensity by 35% by 2030 and by the development and execution of nearterm emissions reduction plans and initiatives. We are also redesigning methodologies to ensure that future investment decisions align with our GHG emissions reduction goals.
We spent more than a year developing our new GHG targets. We were focused on net zero emissions by 2050 but knew we needed to establish a credible and achievable interim target as well. We worked with each of our business units to develop and cost potential emissions reduction opportunities. We crowdsourced thinking both inside and outside of the Company—this helped us to gather new ideas and was an excellent way to engage with employees. We also ran multiple scenarios to help dimension the potential financial implications of achieving these targets. All of this work led us to establish specific pathways for attaining our emissions goals. We are focused on reducing emissions along the following pathways: modernization and innovation; self-powering our assets; procuring lowemission electricity; and offsets and carbon credits. A summary of what we’re working on is outlined in the Our plan to achieve net zero by 2050 section. More information can be found in our Net Zero by 2050 brochure.
About our emissions reduction goals
Our emissions reduction goals focus on GHGs emitted by Enbridge’s operations arising from stationary fuel combustion, flaring, fugitive and vented emissions which generate carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) emissions, and nitrous oxide (N20) (Scope 1 emissions) as well as emissions from the generation of purchased electricity consumed by the Company (Scope 2 emissions). Progress against these goals will be measured relative to a 2018 base year and reported on in future sustainability reports.
Meeting growing global energy demand
While the energy transition is undoubtedly underway, most forecasts—including the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS) and Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS)—suggest that more than half of 2040 energy demand will continue to be met by fossil fuels, including oil and gas. This means that—if we are to address climate change—we need to invest in solutions for producing and transporting cleaner oil and natural gas. We need to do this while we concentrate on developing more renewable energy, improving energy efficiency and investing in the energy systems of tomorrow. We can’t afford to focus solely on one set of solutions. For more details please see our TCFD update in the ESG Datasheet.
