How do we join forces to solve the climate challenge?

Energy security is the hot topic this year with global partnerships and collaborations being reexamined and transformed at an unprecedented pace. Rarely has trusting relationships been as important as it is now. Our industry’s ability to stay firm in our commitment to climate action in such turmoil will be crucial to staying trustworthy.

By Trine Svalestad , Senior Vice President, Sustainability at Aker Solutions.

This week Aker Solutions hosts our inaugural Suppliers Sustainability & Innovation Forum . Two-days that are dedicated to discussing the industry’s shared responsibility to decarbonize our industry and reach net zero by 2050 - as agreed by 197 parties in the Paris Agreement .

To be able to rise to the challenge, we must collaborate throughout the value chain. This will require trust in our ambitions and actions. The prerequisite for building that trust is transparency and accountability. Therefore, we welcome increasing standardization and requirements for sustainability reporting where we both show and share our climate actions and progress.

Aker Solutions’ commitment to the Science Based Target initiative is one of the key global reporting standards we follow. It will require us to not only reduce our own emissions, but also to include indirect emissions from our suppliers.

Thus, the overall carbon footprint across our value chain becomes an important competitive advantage for our business. We need both our customers and our suppliers to commit to tackle the climate challenge and improve together with us. ?

At Aker Solutions, we continue the momentum to reach our transition targets. Within 2030 renewables and transitional energy solutions will become our biggest business and we will have cut our own emissions by 50 percent. These solutions and technologies include:

• Offshore wind
• Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS)
• Electrification of offshore and onshore facilities
• Hydrogen facilities
• Decommissioning & recycling
• Subsea gas compression

We are re-positioning our business, and we need to have trust in our customers and suppliers to work with us to find ways to become net zero, whilst upholding our high business integrity standards.

In Aker Solutions we have a three-way approach to climate action: We are going to grow within renewables, provide transitional energy solutions for the oil and gas industry, and reduce our own scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. We have an ambitious Climate Action Plan in place. It is a roadmap consisting of concrete actions and milestones we are committed to deliver on.

The best plan we have in action however is entrusted to our own people. Every day 15,000 of the world’s best experts engaged in operations in more than 20 countries around the world wake up and get to work determined to be part of solving global energy challenges for future generations. Ultimately, it is the future generations we are accountable to and that drives all of us to work smarter.

I hope Aker Solutions’ Suppliers Sustainability and Innovation Forum will inspire our suppliers and customers to join forces with us on co-creating a net-zero future. ?