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Hyundai Oilbank to Pursue 'Green Growth' with Carbon Conversion Technologies

2020.09.23
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Hyundai Oilbank announced on September 23 that it is transitioning to a 'carbon-neutral green growth' path in a bid to lay the foundation for sustainable growth in line with the ever-tightening global environmental regulations.
Under this new growth strategy, Hyundai Oilbank aims to gradually cut carbon emissions to eventually cap the annual emissions level in 2050 at about 70% of the previous year's level. This would mean a reduction by 1.79 million tons from 6.78 million tons last year to 4.99 million tons in 2050.

To offset 1.79 million tons of carbon emissions, it takes planting 12.7 million new pine trees to purify the air.

In putting such efforts, Hyundai Oilbank will also capture new business opportunities created by the transition to a lower-carbon, green growth path.

'Carbon-neutral growth' refers to reducing the same amount of carbon emissions caused by business growth, making the net increase in emissions zero.

Hyundai Oilbank is the only Korean oil refining and petrochemical company that has announced its commitment to a greater level of green growth than just carbon-neutral growth, aiming for a sharp cut in future emissions from the current level.

A significant portion of this target will be met by entering carbon-related, new lines of business.
Hyundai Oilbank is currently working on the development of a technology that converts carbon dioxide emitted from factories and plants into calcium carbonate and methanol, through joint research with domestic research institutes and business partners.

Calcium carbonate is a raw material for construction materials, such as cement, as well as for paper, plastic, and glass while methanol is used to make next-generation eco-friendly fuels, plastic, rubber, and various industrial materials.

Hyundai Oilbank aims to sequentially commercialize these technologies starting from the second half of 2021.

By doing so, Hyundai Oilbank is expected to cut carbon emissions by 540,000 tons a year.
From 2030 onwards, when the commercialization of these technologies will be completed, annual operating profit growth of KRW 100 billion or more is expected.

Further, Hyundai Oilbank will go green in terms of how it operates the existing plants, as well.
By 2024, it plans to replace all of its three heavy oil boilers with LNG boilers.

It is also planning to entirely replace electricity supplies from Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), etc. with new and renewable power by 2050, reducing carbon emissions by 1.08 million tons per annum in the years leading up to that point.

On top of that, Hyundai Oilbank is set to optimize existing processes to minimize carbon emissions, while planning to obtain extra emission rights by investing in overseas greenhouse gas reduction projects.

"We will work to offset the increase in carbon emissions caused by the establishment and expansion of plants by investing in next-generation eco-friendly energy sectors," said an official at Hyundai Oilbank. "Going green, we aim to increase the proportion of these lines of business in our portfolio, for example, by supplying eco-friendly energy sources through our existing gas station platforms."