Letter from Australia: Upstream industry commits to net zero

Climate and carbon dominated the recent Appea conference

It was with a sense of elation that Australia’s upstream industry gathered in pandemic-free Perth, Western Australia, recently for the first Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (Appea) conference in two years. But attendees face formidable challenges. First and foremost is climate, which dominated the conference. All of the major industry speakers expressed their company’s commitment to net zero by 2050, even though the pathway to this goal in a recent IEA report will require no further exploration for oil and gas—a death sentence for the industry. Despite this, there was much discussion about the role of gas in collaboration with renewables, albeit not something the