The Environment
Environmental protection is an integral part of corporate social responsibility. CNPC strictly follows environmental protection laws and regulations, attaches great importance to climate change and ecological protection, and continuously promotes energy conservation and emission reduction work in order to realize the coordinated development of production and environmental protection. CNPC also continues to promote clean operation technologies and develops new technologies that facilitate environmental protection, energy conservation and emission reduction, especially in oilfield production, refining and chemicals, and natural gas desulfurization.
Climate Change
Actions were taken in line with the Paris Agreement and the Chinese government's goals for carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Our involvement in the collaborative effort of the global oil and gas industry for addressing climate change continued to deepen and we played an active role in promoting the green and low-carbon transition. Under the three-step approach, i.e. “clean alternatives, strategic replacement and green development”, the Action Plan 3.0 for Green and Low-carbon Development was formulated to introduce four measures: carbon reduction, carbon utilization, alternative fuels, and carbon sequestration. Three action plans, i.e. the Green Business Leader Initiative, the Clean and Low-carbon Energy Contributor Initiative, and the Circular Carbon Economy Pioneer Initiative, along with 10 energy-saving and carbon reduction projects were developed to facilitate the green and low-carbon transition. We play an active role in global oil and gas industry cooperation on climate change by supporting and participating in a number of greenhouse gas reduction and control plans and initiatives:
We play an active role in global oil and gas industry cooperation on climate change by supporting and participating in a number of greenhouse gas reduction and control plans and initiatives:
• The Paris Agreement
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
• China’s National Climate Change Program
• Action Plan for Carbon Dioxide Peaking Before 2030
• Carbon Technology Strategic Alliance for Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CTSA-CCUS)
• Oil & Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI)
• China Petroleum and Chemical Industry “Carbon Peak” and “Carbon Neutrality” Pledges
• Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions Initiative
Sustainable Use of Resources
We attach great importance to the protection and rational utilization of resources. We strengthen the protection of water, conservation of fresh water, and rational use of land, and strive to improve the efficiency of energy and material utilization to minimize resource consumption. Water Resources We endeavor to improve water utilization efficiency and realize sustainable water utilization throughout various links in our production and operation activities. By strengthening water conservation management, applying advanced water-saving and wastewater recycling technologies, and including water conservation in our performance evaluation system, we worked to reduce the use of fresh water. Dushanzi Petrochemical Company was awarded the title of “Water Efficiency Leader among Key Water-using Enterprises in the Ethylene Industry in 2020” by four ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In 2021, we saved 10.49 million cubic meters of water, and reduced fresh water consumption by 2.38% year-on-year. In 2022, we saved 9.23 million cubic meters of water, and our fresh water consumption decreased by 0.11%.
Water Resources Management Throughout the Industry Chain
Exploration and Development
In oil and gas development, equal importance was attached to both water pollution prevention & control and water recycling. After the oil-water separation and filtration treatment of recycled wastewater, oil recovery and water reinjection were both realized, preventing groundwater and surface water contamination.
We carried out water system maintenance and renovation, improved the water qualification rate, optimized operation programs, upgraded wastewater discharge and treatment processes to reduce discharges of produced water, and promoted the application of new technologies for water treatment in order to maximize water conservation.
Engineering Construction We focus on managing the impact of project construction on water resources and the risk of leakage accidents during pipeline operations. Environmental (including water environment) impact assessments are conducted, and water conservation and protection concepts and awareness are integrated into construction and operation activities.
Refining and Chemicals
We improve water consumption efficiency by promoting clean production processes, saving water at the source, and optimizing water consumption systems. We increase the concentration ratio of circulating water to reduce water supplement, and strengthen steam condensate water recovery to achieve water saving. In addition, we emphasize wastewater treatment and recycling to reduce wastewater discharge and improve the industrial water recycling rate; We also work to improve underground pipelines to reduce the groundwater leakage rate.
Land Resources
To protect land resources, we make careful and efficient use of land during production, strictly control land use growth, make good use of land in various ways, actively restore land, and conduct environmental treatment and recovery in mining areas. We optimize project design to reduce land occupation during the preparation period for oil & gas exploration and development, pipeline construction, and refining & chemical projects in accordance with the requirements of economical and efficient land use. For newly added service stations, we rationalize the layout of stations to maximize the efficiency of land utilization. For projects occupying farm or forest land, and projects that affect ground attachments during pipeline construction, we actively adopt advanced technologies for land reclamation and provide reasonable compensation to relevant parties. In 2022, we saved 1,280 hectares of land.
Energy
We have been striving to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and increase energy efficiency by reducing energy intensity. We pay a great deal of attention to energy conservation at the source, and carry out energy-saving assessments of newly-built, revamped and expanded projects. We promote the application of energy-saving technology and equipment to boost the efficiency of heating furnaces in oil and gas fields and optimize refining and chemical energy systems. We reinforce energy use management in the production process, and conduct monitoring and evaluation of energy and water-intensive devices and equipment. In 2022, we saved energy equivalent to 740,000 tons of coal equivalent throughout the year.
Waste and Pollutants
We strictly monitor and control discharges of waste and pollutants in the production process, strengthen waste management, and reduce discharges of pollutants in the air, land and water. We actively promote collection measures and recycling technologies for drilling waste, and clean operation technologies at our oil and gas fields, significantly reducing waste and pollutants.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity, as the basis for human survival and development and the foundation of the community of all life on Earth, has provided human beings with abundant and diversified production and living necessities, a healthy and safe ecological environment and a unique landscape culture. We humans must respect, adapt to and protect nature, step up efforts to protect biodiversity, and promote harmonious coexistence between ourselves and nature. CNPC responds actively to the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Convention on Biological Diversity and other global initiatives and international conventions, as well as the Chinese government's Opinions on Further Strengthening Biodiversity Conservation, strictly implements relevant international and domestic laws and regulations, and helps to achieve the goal to "protect, restore and promote sustainable use of ecosystems, and halt biodiversity loss". Most of the company's oil and gas operations are located in wetlands, deserts, tropical rain forests and other areas with a fragile ecological environment. We have made more efforts and reinforced our commitment to reducing and eliminating the potential impact of our operations on the ecological environment and biodiversity, persisting in source control, and implementing life-cycle ecological environment management across the industry chain. We incorporate biodiversity conservation into the management system of the Company. Upholding the approach of integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand, we adopt natural restoration measures or green restoration technology, carry out ecological and environmental protection in the Yangtze River, Yellow River and other key river basins, biodiversity conservation areas and green mines, and implement a variety of biodiversity conservation practices. Through Nature-based Solutions (NbS), we explore and tap the development potential of public welfare tree planting programs and carbon sequestration, ecosystem restoration and biodiversity conservation, and ecological corridor construction. We encourage employees to actively participate in biodiversity conservation actions, and mobilize their communities, the public, partners and other stakeholders to jointly build a multiparty cooperation system for biodiversity conservation.
