US gas company Air Products will spend a minimum of $4 billion in additional capital to support the clean energy transition, raising its total commitment to $15 billion by 2027.
The projects are expected to avoid over 500 million tons of CO2 emissions over their lifetime, informs Gasworld.
Air Products has committed to its recently released "Third by 30" carbon intensity target for Scope 3 emissions, complementing its existing Scope 1 and 2 targets to achieve net zero from its operations by 2050.
The company has identified realistic transition plans for new investments and modifications to the company's existing assets, including low and zero carbon hydrogen technologies and carbon capture, to achieve its ambitious goals.
“These commitments complement the reinforce our growth strategy of building our business to deliver climate benefits and work alongside our customers on their sustainability journey,” said Seifi Ghasemi, President and CEO of Air Products.
He added that the company is uniquely positioned to combine its technology case and past experience to ensure that the future climate benefits created by the first projects become available at a critical moment in the energy transition.
“We continue to see significant opportunities for hydrogen and carbon capture technologies, and our industry-leading $15bn capital commitment is further demonstration of sustainability being at the heart of our business and growth,” Ghasemi added.
It was in September 2020 when the US-based firm first launched its sustainability goal to reduce its CO2 emissions intensity by one-third by the year 2030 from a 2015 baseline – and ever since sustainability has been at the heart of its commitments.
To help accelerate its Net Zero mission, Air Products has said it will continually increase the use of renewable energy, convert its fleet of approximately 2,000 trucks to hydrogen, as laid out in July 2021, and implement additional actions to clean-up its carbon footprint.
Consistent with its Net Zero commitment, Air Products is also engaging with the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi), focused on mobilising the private sector on climate action, to help support the development of a sectoral framework that will shape the methodology for the chemicals sector.
The future climate benefits from Air Products’ already announced hydrogen projects in execution are expected to eliminate more than 20 million tonnes of CO2 annually.
Air Products has already avoided 1.5 million metric tons of carbon emissions from its facilities since 2015 through improvements and sourced 27% of its electricity from renewable sources.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that the Verkhovna Rada signed a memorandum of understanding with Thyssenkrupp Steel (Germany) on the development of long-term supply of hydrogen low carbon and green energy in steel production.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, recruitment of participants for the Go Move 2022 competition has started in North America, designed to accelerate the decarbonization of transport sectors.
