Indian Oil Corp To Spend Rs 2 Lakh Crore To Achieve Carbon Neutrality By 2046

IOC plans to achieve 60 per cent of the goal through mitigation and the rest via offsets, including buying carbon credits, said its Chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya

Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the country’s biggest refiner, on Thursday said it plans to spend Rs 2 lakh crore ($25 billion) to achieve carbon neutrality by 2046, news agency Blloomberg stated.

According to the report, IOC will target Scope 1 and 2 emissions under its net zero aim, Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, chairman of the state-owned refiner-cum-fuel retailer, said on Thursday.

The refiner plans to achieve 60 per cent of the goal through mitigation and the rest via offsets, including buying carbon credits, Vaidya said.

Overall emissions at its refineries and petrochemical units will start falling after 2030, Vaidya said after he had announced the goal to shareholders. The country’s state-run energy majors have been working on plans to switch to low-carbon operations with investments planned in hydrogen and clean power.

Vaidya said that Indian Oil will spend Rs 577 crore on research on green products and fuel cells, while adding that the refiner has started working on hydrogen production by gasifying biomass and expects to have a trial plant with a capacity of 1 ton a day ready by the end of the year.

The refiner’s plan compares with India’s national goal of reaching net zero by 2070. The world’s third-largest emitter announced the target at COP26 at Glasgow late last year, spurring a series of policy changes to encourage decarbonisation of the economy.

The Indian energy sector is looking at investments in green hydrogen and clean power, while thousands of electric vehicle charging points are also being installed across the country even as gasoline demand is expected to remain robust for many years. Indian Oil had earlier said it is working toward producing 70,000 tons a year of green hydrogen by 2030.

Indian Oil had clocked a net loss of Rs 1,992 crore in the June quarter as a freeze on petrol and diesel prices wiped away record refining margins.

The refiner’s net loss of Rs 1,992.53 crore in April-June compares to Rs 5,941.37 crore of net profit in the same period a year back. Its revenue from operations rose to Rs 2.51 lakh crore in April-June from Rs 1.55 lakh crore, mostly because of higher international oil prices.