Neste revises climate targets

Finland’s Neste is revising some of its climate targets due to its current financial position and the delay it is planning to plans to turn the Porvoo refinery (pictured) into a ‘renewable and circular solutions refining hub’ by 2035. It said that reaching its original targets on the schedule planned “would have required significant investments that are currently not realistic”.

The new targets involve pushing the target dates for reducing Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from 2035 to 2040 and for a related interim target of 50% emission reduction from 2030 to 2035. This means focusing solely on absolute emission reductions in Neste’s own operations and removes the option of using emission compensation. 

Two further targets remain unchanged: reducing the use-phase emission intensity of sold products by 50% by 2040 and helping customers reduce their GHG emissions by 20 million/tonnes year by 2030. The respective reference years of 2019 and 2020 are also unchanged.

In the short term, Neste’s climate footprint mitigation actions will focus on energy-efficiency, operational excellence measures and evaluating alternatives to fossil hydrogen. Plans to convert Porvoo remain in place but the timeline for transitioning “will be determined in line with the actual fuel market demand, legislation development and technological development”.