Together We CAN

Last year, the Chevron Advocacy Network (CAN) made the important decision to transform our “Aunt Edna” blog series to reflect the modern communications landscape and launched Together We CAN. Through this new platform, we created a space where all employees are encouraged to join the conversation about the importance of American energy and ask questions about how Chevron is adapting to the increased demand for reliable, affordable, and ever-cleaner energy.

Employee Inbox: How is Chevron scaling up efforts on climate change and the energy transition?

One of the first questions we received in the Together We CAN inbox goes hand in hand with being resilient in adapting to change. In the last newsletter, Chevron employee Mike Jimenez submitted the following question: How is Chevron scaling up efforts on climate change and the energy transition?

To better answer that question, we reached out to Chevron’s Energy Transitions Team, who provided a few examples of what we’re doing to progress toward the global net zero ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement. We focus on 3 action areas:

Lower carbon intensity:

• Together, with companies and organizations across industries who share our environmental goals, we are developing carbon tracking and data collection efforts across the energy supply chain. This data provides us with a better understanding of where we can improve, and allows others to make better informed decisions about their operations.
• Last August, Chevron became the only oil and gas founding member of the Open Footprint Forum, a vendor-neutral tech consortium. The forum will focus primarily on GHG emissions.
• This year, Chevron plans to initiate $100 Million to execute emission reduction projects such as energy efficiency, flare reductions, venting & fugitive emissions, renewables and carbon capture, utilization & storage (CCUS).

Increase renewables and offsets:

• Our joint venture with CalBio and dairy farmers, CalBioGas LLC, was formed in 2019 to produce dairy biomethane as a vehicle fuel source. This past September, we announced the first renewable natural gas production project in Kern County, California.
• Chevron has invested in Novvi, a joint venture that develops oils and specialty chemicals from renewable sources. The first production of 100% renewable-based oil was announced in August 2020, with about a 500 bpd capacity.
• Also in August last year, we formed a partnership with Algonquin Power & Utilities Corporation to co-develop renewable power projects that provide lower-carbon electricity across Chevron’s portfolio. With this agreement, Chevron aims to source more than 500 megawatts of existing and future electricity demand from renewable sources.

Investing in low-carbon technologies:

• To date, Chevron has invested more than $1 Billion in carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) to reduce emissions. Through these initiatives and others such as Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV) and our participation in the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), Chevron is working to support efforts that make our world safer and healthier for future generations.

Employee Inbox: What is Chevron doing in geothermal and wave energy systems?

This question comes in from Juan Cruz, a retiree of Chevron. Juan worked for Chevron for 30 years but told CAN “It feels like only yesterday because I still keep up with the Company’s activities.”

Juan asked: What is Chevron doing in regards to geothermal and wave energy systems? To answer this question, we again reached out to Chevron’s Energy Transitions Team to get the latest on this topic. Here’s what they said:

Geothermal power generation is among Chevron’s list of low-carbon new business opportunities we’re examining closely. We believe Chevron has distinctive capabilities that could enable success, such as in subsurface, wells and reliability. In addition, demand for lower-carbon baseload electricity exists in a number of locations and markets where we currently do business.

Chevron’s earlier geothermal business in Indonesia and the Philippines used conventional technologies that depended on the presence of high temperature, fluids and reservoir permeability. Generally, the viable sites for application of these technologies are limited to the Pacific rim, and for the most part are already exploited – providing limited ability to scale.

However, we’re nearing mid-term commercial viability with several novel geothermal technologies and approaches that could unleash the ability to scale. We have a cross-functional project team in the early stages of characterizing the opportunity for these novel approaches, and hope to move to the development phase so long scalability and potential returns are validated.

Until then, Chevron Technology Ventures continues scouting for external innovation in this space, as well as in other areas related to the energy transition.

Thanks for reaching out, Juan, and we hope this answers your question!

2020 Election Results

Voters braved a pandemic and turned out a record number of votes across the country during the 2020 election, with November’s tallies counting more absentee ballots than ever before during a presidential election.

Now, we’ve ushered a new Administration into The White House along with a razor-thin Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and an evenly-split Senate. The 117th Congress is filled with dozens of new faces and is arguably the most diverse in American history – with a record number of Black and female members serving in the U.S. House.

Chevron looks forward to working with President Biden and his Administration, as we believe there is a lot of common ground – beginning with our shared goal of moving our nation forward.

Considering the Biden-Harris Administration has unveiled several key objectives relating to energy and the environment they wish to immediately accomplish, CAN will be here to provide education, insight, and talking points on these important issues to help navigate conversations with friends and family.

Watch for future newsletters as we tackle some of these hard-hitting topics and provide you with the resources you need to have fact based discussions advocating for the importance of affordable, reliable, and ever-cleaner energy.

Do you have a question for the next newsletter? Please email us your questions to the Chevron Advocacy Network.