Oil major plans to be ‘carbon neutral’ by 2035

From converting CO2 into high value proteins to replacing existing transportation fuels with electric and hydrogen, the oil-to-chemicals business of RIL is set for a green makeover.

The delay in the closure of the Saudi Aramco deal may have been a disappointment for the market, however, chairman Mukesh Ambani laid out a 15-year roadmap for the transformation of RIL into one of the world’s leading energy and materials companies.

Even as the sun’s setting on the fossil fuels business, RIL sees an opportunity in the challenge that climate change poses. From converting CO2 into high value proteins to replacing existing transportation fuels with electric and hydrogen, the oil-to-chemicals business of RIL is set for a green makeover. RIL has set a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2035. While RIL will remain a user of crude oil and natural gas, it plans to embrace new technologies to convert carbon dioxide into useful products and chemicals.

For many market experts, RIL’s energy business, which is its free cash-generating machine, has been given much lower valuations than its digital business as the refining and petchem business has been considered to be a sunset industry. Ambani said, “Transforming our energy business to tackle one of the biggest challenges before India and the world is our new growth opportunity”.