Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Global report analyzes risks of climate change for the oil and gas industry

PRNewswire: Over three quarters of the world's oil and gas companies surveyed believe inevitable climate change could impact their business: increasing downtime, system failures and safety; but only 19 percent are taking action, says a new Acclimatise report backed by IBM.

"The Oil and Gas industry is an important contributor to our society and economy, so if anything impacts the industry it could well impact people at home, at work, on the move, or even their personal finances," said Allan Roberts, IBM's Industrial Strategy & Change Leader, IBM Global Business Services, UK & Ireland. "While oil and gas companies are typically well run and have systems for monitoring risks, they have been exposed to problems with their major projects and operations in the past. Evidence in the report shows companies may not be fully appreciating the risks posed by climate change or have in place responses which are robust."

The report titled "Global Oil & Gas - The Adaptation Challenge" is based on the Carbon Disclosure Project's annual request for investor information that was sent to the world's largest 128 oil and gas companies globally (based on market capitalisation). Analysed using the Acclimatisation Index Methodology, the report identified the top five impacts of climate change and the industry implications:
  • Increased pressure on water resources...
  • Physical asset failure…
  • Employee health and safety risks…
  • Drop in value of financial assets …
  • Damage to corporate reputation…
Offshore platform located in the Gulf of Mexico, shot by Chad Teer, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License

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