Reducing greenhouse gas emissions

At Imperial, our strategy to reduce GHG emissions is focused on increasing our own energy efficiency and advancing current proven emission-reducing technologies in the short term as well as developing breakthrough technologies for the longer term.

Our approach

Longer-term actions: research in energy technologies

We conduct our own research as well as work with academic experts to develop energy technologies that benefit our business and reduce emissions.

We are conducting research at our Calgary research facility on heavy oil recovery processes that may significantly reduce GHG emissions, compared with thermal recovery processes. For example, we are working on a solvent-based process that injects solvent in place of steam to recover underground bitumen deposits, improving recovery efficiency and reducing emissions.

We are also the founding sponsor of the Centre for Oil Sands Innovation at the University of Alberta. Through the centre, university experts are conducting groundbreaking research to address a variety of environmental challenges associated with oil sands development, including climate change.

In addition, along with ExxonMobil, we support the Global Climate and Energy Project at Stanford University. This is the largest-ever independent research effort to identify technologies that can meet energy demand with significantly lower GHG emissions. Study areas include solar, hydrogen, biomass energy and advanced transportation.