EQT Announces Net-Zero Goal for 2025 - The Green Voice

At the end of June, EQT announced the release of its Environmental, Social and Governance, aka ESG Report, described  in a press release as outlining the company's "2020 operational data  and initiatives implemented to continuously improve the way it produces  environmentally responsible, reliable, and low-cost energy." Part of  this includes setting targets to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas and  methane emissions in its Production segment operations by or before  2025.

Being net zero — also referred to as carbon neutral—  is defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as "consuming  only as much energy as produced, achieving a sustainable balance between  water availability and demand, and eliminating solid waste sent to  landfills."

"The actions that we have taken in the last year have  set EQT on the path to be net zero by 2025, if not sooner," says EQT CEO  Toby Rice in a press release. "Bolstering this ambition is our ability  to leverage technology and innovation that not only improves our  operational efficiencies but lessens our environmental impact.”

As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rice says he believes EQT, touted as the largest producer of natural gas in the U.S., could become the lowest-cost producer of hydrogen, made from natural gas captured from EQT's wells.

Currently,  EQT has hydraulic fracking wells throughout New York, Ohio, West  Virginia, and Pennsylvania, including in the Greene and Washington  counties located in the southwestern part of the state.

The U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy says that hydrogen, when consumed in a fuel cell, produces  only water, making it a clean fuel option. It can be produced from  natural gas, as well as nuclear power, biomass, and renewable power like  solar and wind.

Rice thinks hydrogen, converted from EQT’s  natural gas, could be used to displace diesel in transportation.  According to the EPA, exhaust from diesel, a  common fuel used in large trucks and other machines, contributes to  "serious human health and environmental effects" by releasing oxides of  nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and other hazardous pollutants into the air.

                                           

                                        

The report laid out other ways EQT  has worked to lower its carbon footprint, including claims that, by  transitioning to electric frac fleets in 2020, the company will  eliminate over 23 million gallons of diesel fuel from its operations  annually. The company is also launching a $75 million fund to invest in  technologies that "promote natural gas while lowering EQT’s carbon  footprint."

The company also joined the Oil & Gas Methane  Partnership 2.0 Initiative, a global effort to better track and report  methane emissions.

EQT adds to a growing list of energy companies  setting ambitious goals to lower their environmental impact. At the same  time as EQT's big announcement, another Pittsburgh entity, the United  States Steel Corporation, made an agreement with another company to  study the potential for carbon capture and storage and hydrogen  development in the tri-state region of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West  Virginia, according to a press release. U.S. Steel targeted hitting  net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Major players like Royal Dutch Shell and Occidental Petroleum Corp. also plan to go net-zero by 2050 and 2040, respectively.

Rice  told the PG that he hopes EQT can help lead the Pittsburgh region  towards reducing its carbon emissions, especially by creating a market  for hydrogen and satisfying the domestic and international demand for  clean energy. For example, EQT has already looked at supplying the  Allegheny County Port Authority should the major public transportation  provider switch to hydrogen-powered buses.

“Our 2020 ESG Report  outlines our strategy for reducing our emissions and how we view our  role in accelerating a transition to a low carbon future," says Rice.