The oil and gas industry is still finding its place within the energy transition, and companies are setting ambitious sustainability goals as they navigate this paradigm shift. Executives are increasingly seeking out the business opportunities that a lower-carbon future could present.
“Today, sustainability has become central to business operations, emerging as an essential element of a successful strategy,” says Norm Gilsdorf, Vice President, Global High Growth Regions and President for Honeywell Russia & Customs Union and Honeywell ASEAN. “CEOs are discovering that sustainability and profitability have become synonymous ideas, making sustainably managed companies increasingly attractive to investors and customers.”
He notes that decarbonisation is the keystone of a successful sustainability strategy. Technology providers have a major role to play in the energy transition, not only by decreasing their own emissions, but by enabling operators to improve their environmental profile using innovative technologies, products and services.
It is sort of virtuous cycle of taking comprehensive approach to sustainability, engaging our workforce, finding projects and getting them executed, and the results have been impressive
Gilsdorf outlines six key steps in helping organisations reach sustainability targets. It starts with setting a baseline to understand where the company currently stands and where its emissions are coming from; defining a target and timeline; identifying key initiatives to meet those targets; committing to the project, securing funding, and executing the plan; measure quantifiable progress; and mitigate risks to sustain the level of performance.
“Making products safer for people and the planet is systematically considered at the design stage of all products,” Gilsdorf says. “As Honeywell businesses invent new tools and solutions, we take deliberate, strategic steps to improve each innovation’s eco-efficiency.”
The key products that Honeywell is working on include renewable energy storage and controls, renewable fuels, advanced plastic recycling, carbon capture and hydrogen economy, and industrial autonomous operations.
As more energy entities seek to leverage the potential of hydrogen in a lower-carbon future, issues including time to market, cost efficiency, and assured safety will arise, Gilsdorf says, but notes that Honeywell can “address these challenges through our core software offerings.”
He also explains that new products are considered based on their ability to reduce the use of natural resources, increase energy efficiency, and reduce waste, along with other criteria. Digital technologies are among the products that can have the strongest impact on sustainability.
“Large enterprises around the world consistently lack top-to-bottom visibility into how their operations are performing, and most lack the ability to derive business intelligence from their disparate data sources,” he says. “Their existing systems are disjointed and have shortcomings that slow growth and cut into profitability.”
CEOs are discovering that sustainability and profitability have become synonymous ideas, making sustainably managed companies increasingly attractive to investors and customers
Oil and gas companies are increasingly looking to digital technology to boost efficiency and cut costs by optimizing their operations. When paired with a strategic sustainability plan, it goes hand-in-hand with reducing emissions.
Gilsdorf highlights that digital solutions like Honeywell Forge Enterprise Performance Management can push for energy efficiency, emissions reduction, worker health and safety, waste avoidance, and sustainable process design, allowing companies to get deeper oversight over their workflows, optimizing processes, operations, people, and assets at an enterprise level.
“As one example, Honeywell brings energy accounting to remote offshore oil and gas production,” he says. “Using Honeywell digital twins and energy & emissions management, Lundin Norway creates a precise method to perform energy accounting on its North Sea oil and gas platform.
“The detailed insight they gather drives continuous improvement of operations and supports entrenched mission to reduce CO2 emissions,” Gilsdorf adds. Indeed, upstream companies are striving more than ever to leverage digital technology and big data to gather actionable insight and optimize their operations.
While assisting producers with their own energy transition goals, the company is also turning this mindset inwards—Honeywell has pledged to reach carbon neutrality in its facilities and operations by 2035, and approximately 50% of its research and development budgets goes towards innovations related to positive environmental and social outcomes.
“Our operations are really taking this to heart,” Gilsdorf says. “We are now more than 90% reduced in our greenhouse gas intensity and nearly 70% more energy efficient than when we started.
“It is sort of virtuous cycle of taking comprehensive approach to sustainability, engaging our workforce, finding projects and getting them executed, and the results have been impressive,” he concludes.
