GAIL (India)

GAIL is increasing its upstream oil and gas extraction, with a participating interest in 11 exploration and production blocks in India and Myanmar. GAIL’s locked-in scope 3 emissions from its upstream activities are expected to exceed its corresponding 1.5°C carbon budget by 79% between 2019 and 2050. This is based on the company utilising all its remaining reserves from its existing and approved fields. GAIL should seek to avoid upstream production becoming a larger part of its business and should instead invest in low-carbon technologies.

GAIL needs to improve its management of climate change issues if it hopes to transition to the low-carbon economy. Although the company has board-level oversight of climate change, none of its board members have relevant expertise in the low-carbon transition. The company has no current emissions reduction targets and its climate strategy has no plan to reduce scope 3 emissions.

GAIL has also not carried out scenario analysis to understand the resilience of its business to different climate scenarios and it does not use an internal carbon price. Its measures to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions, such as energy conservation and installing rooftop solar panels, lack robust targets and monitoring.

As of 2019, GAIL had a small renewable power portfolio with a capacity of 130 MW, including 118 MW of wind power and 12 MW of solar power. The company does not state clear targets in its own reports or website to expand this capacity, though it has set out renewable power expansion plans in July 2021 that have been widely reported in the Indian press.

According to the press reports, GAIL intends to build a portfolio of 1 gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy in the next 3-4 years and set up compressed biogas and ethanol plants as part of its diversification away from fossil fuels. While these are promising signs, the company needs to publish a clear road map for its renewables business with interim targets to establish the credibility of these plans.

GAIL lacks any current emissions reduction targets and has not set out a clear road map to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions and develop a low-carbon business model. It is aiming to develop renewables, compressed biogas and bioethanol production. It does not report scope 3 emissions or have a plan to reduce them.

GAIL does not have a clear low-carbon transition plan. It has set out an intention to develop renewables, compressed biogas and ethanol plants, but these lack clear targets and deployment schedules. It also seeks to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions through energy conservation, self-consumption of solar power and transportation of gas by pipeline rather than vehicles.

As of 2019, GAIL has 130 MW of renewable power capacity. It does not clearly disclose its current or planned CapEx or R&D spending on low-carbon and mitigation technologies.

GAIL’s absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions increased by 31% from 2014 to 2019. The company has been increasing its upstream oil and gas production.

GAIL’s climate strategy currently lacks a number of vital elements. It has no emissions reduction targets, no CapEx plans for low-carbon and mitigation technologies and its plans to develop low-carbon business activities lack clear, well reported targets and deployment schedules.