During the recent Climate Week in New York City, the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), a collection of global energy companies, made several announcements. First, OGCI added three new US-based members — Exxon, Chevron, and Occidental Petroleum — bringing the total number of companies in the group to 13. Second, OGCI announced its first collective methane reduction target for member companies, a 0.25 percent leakage rate.
To discuss these issues and more, host Jason Bordoff sat down with Dr. Pratima Rangarajan, CEO of OGCI Climate Investments, on the latest episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange. OGCI Climate Investments is the arm of the organization that is investing more than $1 billion in what they describe as innovative startups to lower the carbon footprints of the energy and industrial sectors. Pratima has previously held various senior positions in the renewable energy field, including roles at GE and Vestas Wind Systems.
During their conversation Pratima and Jason discussed the history of OGCI and the goals of the Climate Investments portfolio. Pratima shared her view on what is needed to achieve deep decarbonization, the role for renewable energy and energy efficiency in that process, and the role of policy in driving down greenhouse gas emissions.
Other topics discussed include what improvements are necessary to scale carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies, the use of satellites to continuously measure methane emissions, and what the future global energy system will look like if we successfully get on track to meet the necessary emissions reductions targets.
