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Cenovus Energy plans to cut total methane emissions in its upstream operations by 80 per cent by year-end 2028 from a 2019 baseline.
The new target follows the release of the company’s 2022 environmental, social and governance (ESG) progress report last week detailing its sustainability performance.
“Strong sustainability performance is fundamental to our business and we continue to pursue opportunities to progress our ESG targets and ambition for net zero emissions from operations by 2050, including establishing our new methane milestone,” said Cenovus president and CEO Jon McKenzie.
The ESG report provides details on climate and greenhouse gas emissions, water stewardship, biodiversity, Indigenous reconciliation, and inclusion and diversity – as well as safety and governance performance.
In 2022, the company continued to make progress on several goals, including reducing total methane emissions in upstream operations by 32 per cent from 2021 levels, and 59 per cent between 2019 and 2022.
The company also completed more than 1,800 optical gas imaging surveys and an alternative fugitive emissions management program aerial screening pilot to improve methane detection and quantification.
The grand environmental plan is to reduce total GHG emissions by 35 per cent by year-end 2035 on the path to net zero.
Rhona DelFrari, Cenovus’ chief sustainability officer and executive vice president, stakeholder engagement, also talked about emissions reduction progress in a video presentation.
“On greenhouse gases where we get the most scrutiny, we are doing the upfront work necessary to get several additional carbon capture projects off the ground,” said DelFrari.
The 2022 ESG report notes Cenovus drilled an appraisal well at its Minnedosa ethanol plant in Manitoba to better understand the reservoir where CO2 would be stored.
The company also worked on completing design and engineering studies for phase 1 carbon capture and storage at its Christina Lake oil sands facility.
On Indigenous reconciliation, Cenovus spent $395 million on Indigenous businesses such as engineering and construction services in 2022.
Building on this work, in the first quarter of 2023, Cenovus has now achieved its target of spending at least $1.2 billion with Indigenous businesses from 2019 to year-end 2025.
“Reaching our minimum Indigenous business spend a target two years ahead of schedule is one way to demonstrate our commitment to advancing Indigenous reconciliation,” said DelFrari.
“We’re continually looking for opportunities to expand the scope of work we do with local Indigenous communities and businesses in the areas where we operate.”
On biodiversity, Cenovus reclaimed another 537 decommissioned well sites. The company is two-thirds of the way to its target of reclaiming 3,000 decommissioned well sites by the end of 2025.
In 2022. the company planted more than 570,000 trees within its forested reclamation areas.
“We’re more than halfway to restoring more habitat than we use in the Cold Lake caribou range by year-end 2030,” added DelFrari.
The ESG report also notes the company maintained its target-level oil sands freshwater ratio at 0.12 barrels of water per barrel of oil equivalent.
Cenovus is also implementing plans to reduce fresh water at its thermal operations and expects to see results this year.
The company is assessing the results of workforce inclusivity and diversity goals as it works to add a diversity target beyond gender in 2023.
Cenovus also conducted a voluntary self-identification survey for staff in 2022.
