Analysis of How Energy Companies Pledge and Attempt to Reduce Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Line with National Targets on Climate Change: A Case Study of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT)

While climate change is increasingly more present in political agendas, companies are called to restructure their businesses to meet national targets by reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, carbon management practices are nowadays critical for most firms, especially those working in the energy sector. PTT represents a peculiar case in this field because it is a state-owned company that in the last few years accounted for 157.83 MtCO 2 e per year, though it has not yet taken significant action to reduce its emissions. As Thailand pledged to abate 20% of its GHG emissions within 2030, PTT set out its Climate Change Management plan, yet this still does not contain specific measures or projects that the company intends to undertake to meet the target. This paper thus provides estimations regarding the alternatives available to PTT by applying current academic literature and knowledge on PTT’s reduction plan, and by integrating it and verifying it with data retrieved from PTT’s competitors’ reduction plans. It was found that PTT could cover 6–10 MtCO 2 e per year at the cost of USD 5–10 per tCO 2 e by continuing to fund REDD+ projects. Moreover, investing in renewable energy leads to a reduction of 21.7 MtCO 2 e per year at the cost of USD 2.85 billion. Lastly, it was shown that PTT could obtain a reduction of 3 MtCO 2 e per year by implementing CCUS technologies, potentially at a lower cost compared with the current USD 20–25 per tCO 2 e abated. This paper also discusses the long-term market implications of each of these alternatives.