This year’s theme for Earth Day is Invest in our Planet, a clarion call to put value into making the earth cleaner for present and future generations.
Energy companies such as Phoenix Park Gas Processing Ltd (PPGPL) and its broader group TT National Gas Ltd (TTNGL) are heeding that call, and, at its latest public update held Wednesday at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain, officials touched on plans, policies and initiatives to make its own investments to preserve the planet.
Although he noted that if trends in energy use continues, fossil fuels will remain the dominant fuel source until 2050, TTNGL chairman Conrad Enill said there will be a focus on investing in remaining relevant in a world transitioning to clean energy, and assisting in that transition.
“We have two objectives, be relevant and understand what is taking place but at the same time transition in tandem with the rest of the world as we go through the changes that the world is looking at,” he said.
“The key elements of our green agenda based on our commitment to support TT’s COP21 promise on total emission reduction. These elements are in the areas of carbon storage, greenhouse gas conservation and usage; renewable energy; energy efficiency and fuel switching,” he said referring to last year’s Climate Change Conference in Scotland which the Prime Minister attended.
While he did not go into plans on these pillars, Enill added that the group would also look into the concept of “green financing” which would give priority to projects that would have elements of energy conservation, carbon reduction and other initiatives.
Enill noted that issues connected to climate change have not only affected the lives of people in the region, but it has also affected how the company works.
“We are observing unprecedented climate changes in our recent history which has caused much concern,” he said. “In Latin American and Caribbean region, methane concentration recorded is at its highest in over 800,000 years, but the region accounts for 10 per cent of the world’s methane emissions. We have plans for addressing this issue in this sector.”
He pointed out other challenges including ocean warming, rise in sea levels, Co2 concentration and surface temperature changes.
“This affects us, what we do and how we do it. It has created a new reality that we live in and that we must respond to,” he said.
According to a study done by UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), climate changes such as sea level rise and storm surges present real time issues to energy industry supply chains starting with the infrastructure used for procurement like oil and gas rigs.
PPGPL, in a 2016 report on managing climate change risk, also identified some effects of climate change.
The company observed that there was an increased rate of shoreline erosion which had worsened to the point that infrastructure, which included its southern fence-line right-of-way pipeline and its East to West pipeline in Dock-2 in the Gulf of Paria, were in imminent da
