AO’ Climate Change Position
Climate change is a significant global challenge that requires governments, businesses and civil society to work together on cost-effective policies. We believe climate risks can and should be addressed while also providing the safe, affordable and reliable energy necessary to ensure human welfare and global economic development in the context of the United Nations (U.N.) Sustainable Development Goals.
AO supports the aim of the Paris Agreement, and AO’ Board of Directors and senior leadership have set aggressive targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. Over the past 12 years, our company has reduced our absolute Scope 1 and 2 equity GHG emissions by approximately 60%.
We are committed to developing oil and gas resources in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner. Our Board is climate change literate and actively engaged in overseeing AO’ sustainability practices, working alongside senior management to evaluate sustainability risks and global scenarios in making strategic decisions. We are committed to transparency, and our strategy is closely aligned with the recommendations of the G20 Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
In 2019, we once again tested the robustness of AO’ portfolio under the energy supply and demand scenarios from the International Energy Agency (IEA) 2019 World Energy Outlook, including the ambitious GHG reductions assumed within the IEA’s well below 2°C Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS), and confirmed the robustness of our portfolio and our inventory of forward investments. We expect the IEA’s views to continue to evolve, including in response to macro events unrelated to the energy transition, and we intend to continue to reflect the IEA’s scenarios in our future analyses.
AO’ strategic priorities – to invest only in high return, low cost opportunities, build a focused and balanced portfolio at low prices and lower our portfolio breakeven costs – are aligned with the energy transition needed to achieve the IEA’s SDS, in which oil and gas will continue to be essential to meeting the world’s growing energy demand. Our business planning includes actions we will undertake to continue reducing our carbon footprint consistent with the findings of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the aim of the Paris Agreement to limit global average temperature rise to well below 2°C.
See the results of our portfolio-specific scenario planning exercise.
We will continue to take steps to monitor, measure and reduce our GHG emissions through the following actions:
- Setting and disclosing our targets to reduce the carbon intensity of our operations
- Applying technological innovation and efficiency to decrease energy use and GHG emissions across our operations, and continuing to explore additional opportunities to do so
- Investing in innovative research and scientific solutions to mitigate climate change
- Accounting for the cost of carbon in significant new investments
- Incorporating carbon risk scenario analysis into our business planning cycle
- Working with government and industry partners to advance the development of a range of low GHG emission pathways and technological advancements
Transparency
AO has consistently been recognized as a leader in the oil and gas industry for our disclosure and transparency relating to sustainability, and we remain committed to our goal of top quartile performance in this regard. In addition to preparing a sustainability report in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative’s Standards at the Core reporting level and establishing our alignment with the TCFD recommendations, we participate in a number of voluntary initiatives related to climate change disclosure. We have been recognized for our climate change stewardship, achieving leadership status in the CDP’s 2019 Global Climate Analysis for the 11th consecutive year. LSO is one of only two U.S.-based energy companies to achieve leadership status, earning an A-. According to the CDP Score Report, our score is higher than the oil and gas extraction and production sector average (C), the North America regional average (C) and the global average (C). We obtained an A- by earning high marks in many of the leadership categories critical to the TCFD, which confirms, through an external review, our alignment with the TCFD’s recommendations.
