Petrobras’ CO₂ emissions down 40% from 2015
In 2024, absolute greenhouse gas emissions from Petrobras’ operations totaled 47 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂). The level is consistent with 2022 emissions (48M) and 2023 (46M) and represents a 40 percent reduction from 2015.
Despite its commitment to reach 2030 with emissions down 30 percent from 2015, Petrobras is striving to maintain 40 percent by the end of the decade.
The data can be found in the company’s climate change report released Friday (May 23). The annual update casts light on the state-run oil giant’s carbon footprint, achievements in reducing greenhouse emissions in the exploration, production, and sale of fuels, and efforts in the search for greener energy sources.
The text restates the goal of achieving operational emissions neutrality by 2050—known in the energy transition jargon as net zero.
Energy transition
In an exclusive interview with Agência Brasil, Petrobras Director for Energy Transition and Sustainability Mauricio Tolmasquim pointed out that Petrobras is trying to strike a balance between the need to reduce its carbon footprint and its efforts to boost production, as oil energy is likely to continue to be in demand worldwide.
“Brazil’s big challenge is to make an energy transition that’s fair, while meeting the increased demand for energy and ensuring that the fight against climate change doesn’t affect the growth of this demand,” he said, noting that the company in recent years has managed to increase energy production without expanding net emissions.
He noted that Petrobras should have ten new floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels in operation by 2030 without raising emissions.
“We’re going to increase production, but we’re going to take measures to make our operations more efficient and our processes more efficient, replacing energy without increasing emissions,” he said.
Carbon footprint
Petrobras’ carbon footprint, the document shows, s for three percent of Brazil’s emissions. The figure encomes direct and indirect emissions from the generation of energy purchased for the company’s consumption.
The director said that if the improvements in the company’s processes are not enough to achieve the 2030 and 2050 targets, Petrobras can make use of carbon market credits, i.e. pay for third parties’ carbon capture efforts.
“For whatever we can’t achieve with internal measures to increase efficiency, we’ll buy carbon credits, but we’ll do as much as we can internally,” he added.
He further noted that the state-owned company had announced in March it would buy BRL 450 million in credits in the Amazon region.
Fuels of the future
The report also highlights investments in energy sources other than oil and gas that are gaining prominence in the energy transition—such as ethanol, wind and solar energy, biodiesel, and sustainable aviation fuel. These are considered greener fuels.
Of the projects under development, Tolmasquim said, the ones that have the most potential to play a leading role in the short term are mature technologies already being used by the market—like ethanol.
In Brazil, in addition to ethanol as a pure fuel, gasoline is blended with 27 percent ethanol, a measure that will increase to 30 percent.
“Ethanol has a market, the technology is known, it has a price. It’s a commodity. So it’s something that can quickly be scaled up,” he said, further adding biodiesel to the list.
