“Introducing climate-friendly solutions is not a problem, it is an opportunity to achieve improved profitability,” says Gazprom deputy chairman, Alexander Medvedev.

“Gazprom has started to make environmental management a priority,” says Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev.

DNV was well represented at the Global Leadership and Technology Exchange conference Total Energy Management in Oslo. Here is COO of of DNV Energy Remi Eriksen.

The place to start is to improve energy management. Russia uses 3.2 times more energy per GDP output than Europe, the Gazprom executive revealed as he addressed the Global Leadership and Technology Exchange (GLTE), of which he is co-chairman.
GLTE is a business network, initiated, designed and facilitated by Xynteo, the Anglo-Scandinavian advisory group, and in April top executives from leading global companies, including General Motors, Siemens, Microsoft and Indian conglomerate Tata, were gathered in Oslo to discuss growth solutions in a low carbon economy under the working title Total Energy Management.
As the world’s largest gas supplier, Gazprom has started to make environmental management a priority. Mr Medvedev, who is also in charge of Gazprom’s export activities, shared Gazprom’s three objectives for dealing with energy conservation: to reduce gas loss and consumption, optimise existing technological facilities, and introduce new energy-saving technologies.

Making good business sense
As pointed out by Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev, 65% of all energy production globally is wasted somewhere in the process. With the oil price hitting record levels well above USD 100 a barrel, total energy management not only serves to curb CO2 emissions – it also makes really good business sense.
Gazprom has started a business programme that outlines targets for natural gas vehicles in Russia. This involves doubling the Russian fleet of CNG vehicles by 2015, replacing 2.5 million tonnes of fuel oil with gas, and reducing overall pollution by 1 million tce (tonne of coal equivalents).
In the climate change debate, gas is often mentioned as “just” a bridging solution from fossil fuel to a low carbon energy supply, but Mr Medvedev is, not surprisingly, convinced that new technology will make gas an attractive low carbon solution. And, entirely in the spirit of the Global Leader­ship and Technology Exchange forum, only collaborative innovation can meet the challenges of a low carbon economy, Mr Medvedev said. He pointed to several large- scale projects, such as Nord­stream and Sakhalin, where Gazprom already relies on foreign expertise.

A dual challenge
“In the low-carbon economy, businesses face a dual problem. They will have to tackle new technology and new business models at the same time. The only way to deal with that is through collaboration,” Mr Medvedev said.
The climate change debate is heated and uncertainty prevails, especially among politicians. Interestingly, Mr Medvedev concluded by quoting his sports idol, Wayne Gretsky: “It has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that you miss 100% of the shots you do not take.”

Date: 2008-06-13