Indian Oil to invest $30 bn to achieve net-zero target

Indian Oil Corp plans to spend $30 billion to achieve its net-zero operational emissions target by 2046, the oil refiner’ chairman said.

The company also announced an investment of Rs1 lakh crore ($12bn) to increase its refining capacity, already India’s largest, by a third. Under this plan, Indian Oil will have a refining capacity of 107 million metric tonnes per year.

Statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA) have predicted that India’s oil demand will rise from the current five million barrels per day (mbpd) to 7mbpd by 2030, and 9mbpd by 2040.

The IEA also notes that India has committed to reach net-zero emissions overall by 2070 and to have half of its electricity coming from renewable sources by 2030.

The Indian Government has also recently taken major steps on the road to a net zero future, most recently by setting minimum standards for the production of green hydrogen. Hydrogen can only now be classed as green if it has well-to-gate emissions of no more than 2kg CO₂ equivalent per kilogram of hydrogen.