The oil and natural gas industry cannot ignore climate change and must support work to help curb its effects through a carbon tax, increased natural gas production and other means, Statoil ASA Chief Executive Eldar Sætre said on Tuesday.
It was the strongest stance yet from the leader of a major oil producer on the need to limit carbon emissions. Some major energy companies, especially in Europe, have been pushing for an industry-coordinated response to stem climate change.
"We recognize and fully acknowledge the climate issues and want to take our part of the responsibility to find solutions," Sætre said in an interview on the sidelines of the IHS CERAWeek conference in Houston, the world's largest annual gathering of oil executives. "We want to be the most carbon efficient oil and gas company out there."
Sætre used a keynote speech at the conference to double down on the theme, telling a room of hundreds of global energy industry players that action must be taken on climate change, otherwise "we risk becoming an industry that neither gets access nor acceptance."
The sentiment was reflected by executives at Britain's BP and France's Total SA during smaller sessions earlier in the conference.
