Scarborough: Managing Emissions

MYTH

The Scarborough Energy Project will emit 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.

FACT

The Scarborough gas field contains less than 0.1% carbon dioxide. Woodside is committed to playing a significant role in the world’s energy transformation, through limiting our own emissions and reducing global emissions by supplying cleaner energy to a world that needs it. Woodside will reduce Scarborough facility’s direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to as low as reasonably practical by incorporating energy efficiency measures in design and operations.

The total direct and indirect GHG emissions from the Scarborough development are estimated to be 878 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent (Mt CO₂-e) over the project life (778.5 Mt CO₂-e indirect, 99.5 Mt CO₂-e direct GHG emissions). This data is in accepted regulatory approval documents.¹

A significant volume of energy will be produced from the Scarborough resource. Used to generate electricity, Scarborough could power the homes in ten cities the size of Perth for thirty years, doing so with around half of the greenhouse gas emissions that would be produced if this electricity were to be generated by coal. ²

Woodside is committed to playing a significant role in the world’s energy transformation, through limiting our own emissions and reducing global emissions by supplying cleaner energy to a world that needs it. Woodside will reduce Scarborough facility’s direct GHG emissions to as low as reasonably practical by incorporating energy efficiency measures in design and operations. Further information on how this is being achieved is included in the Scarborough Offshore Project Proposal, sections 4.5.4.1 and 7.1.3.

We've also set targets at Pluto, our world-class natural gas facility, to put us on track to net zero emissions by 2050. Woodside’s Pluto Greenhouse Gas Abatement Program (GGAP) was approved by the Western Australian Minister for Environment in June 2021. The GGAP includes interim and long-term targets to achieve a 30% emissions reduction from approved levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050 across the entire project.³ The targets incorporate emissions associated with Pluto Train 2.

^{1 Woodside (2020), 'Scarborough Offshore Project Proposal', page 382, table 7–20.}

^{2 International Energy Agency (2019), “The role of gas in today’s energy transitions”, page 4.}

^{3 Pluto LNG Development Public Environmental Review (2006) emissions estimate of 4.1 Mtpa CO₂-e for two LNG trains.}