Cooper Energy is investing in carbon offsets generated from Biodiverse Carbon’s Coorong Project located south-east of Adelaide in South Australia. The project uses 600 ha of environmental plantings to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units. The project is a registered Emissions Reduction Fund project, which connects the Coorong National Park and the Messent Conservation Park. It will create tangible environmental benefits including restoring native vegetation and wildlife habitats, increasing the habitat for the threatened Malleefowl and migratory shorebirds and improving the condition of subcoastal wetlands.
The company will 100 per cent offset all 10,022 tonnes of its FY20 greenhouse gas emissions including:
- 8739 tonnes of scope 1 equity share emissions
- 360 tonnes of scope 2 equity share emissions; and
- 923 tonnes of controllable scope 3 emissions (from business travel and carbon embedded in manufacturing of steel and concrete structures).
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Cooper Energy managing director David Maxwell said, “We are voluntarily managing our emissions footprint based on the Cooper Energy Values and as a growing domestic gas supplier, driven by care and the recognition of the need to support environmental sustainability.
“Our strategy is focused on producing natural gas for south-east Australia, in south-east Australia. This means our operations have a comparatively low level of emissions intensity which may otherwise exist with long pipeline transmission. We saw an opportunity to completely offset our emissions well ahead of 2050 and we took it.
“We have been reporting our greenhouse gas emissions since 2014 under the Federal Government’s National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007. We voluntarily published our Scope 1, 2 and Scope 3 emissions for the first time in 2019 in our inaugural Sustainability Report.
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“We are continuously seeking energy efficiency opportunities. We have made progress with commitments such as eliminating or reducing gas flaring where possible, minimising the number of long-distance rig mobilisations and investigating technology options to reduce direct emissions on site where possible.
“We plan to fully offset our carbon emissions annually recognising the long-term benefits to our business, the environment, and the communities where we operate. Over the coming year, we will be seeking Government certification from Climate Active as a carbon-neutral organisation.
“Cooper Energy is working to increase gas supply to south-east Australia. We are keen to play our part in providing this energy on a carbon neutral basis given the role it plays in accelerating the transition to a low carbon future while recognising the growth of a strong economy.”
