TotalEnergies targets 2050 for net-zero emission –10 years ahead of Nigeria

TotalEnergies, a French multinational company, says it will become a carbon-neutral energy company by 2050.

Mike Sangster, managing director and chief executive of the company, spoke on Wednesday at the Nigeria oil and gas (NOG) energy week, in Abuja.

Sangster was represented by Wale Fayemi, the company’s country adviser on multi-energies.

Speaking during a session on defining the roadmap for the future of the country’s upstream sector, Fayemi said it is important that Nigeria prioritises less carbon-intensive energy products while implementing low-carbon strategies.

In 2021, Nigeria committed to net-zero emissions by 2060.

Fayemi said TotalEnergies changed its business approach to help Nigeria achieve its environmental ambitions faster.

“TotalEnergies is changing its business models and strategy to produce low carbon energy. That is also why we changed our name in 2021 from Total to TotalEnergies to emphasise that we are a broad-based energy company to show that we are not only interested in oil and gas,” he said.

“In 2050, what’s going to happen is that we’re going to produce about 50 percent of our energy in the form of low-carbon electricity and about 25 percent of our energy will be decarbonised fuels in the form of biogas and hydrogen.”

He added that the company was committed to reducing its carbon footprint which is why “our carbon neutrality goal is in 2050 – 10 years ahead of Nigeria’s which is 2060”.

Dabo Alabo, TotalEnergies’ general manager of crude oil and gas commercial, earlier said the company has deployed new technologies to support Nigeria’s economic growth and address issues bordering on climate change, efficient energy mix and low emission.

“A lot of our research today on CCS is focused on reservoirs, using them to test the technology and continue to develop and innovate,’’ Alabo said.

“TotalEnegies is committed to helping the direction the country will take in ensuring efficient gas supply and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

“We have laudable projects expected to come out in 2026 and 2027 targeted at producing up to 500 million scoff gas into the supply.”