By Lee Kyung-min
SK E&S, an energy subsidiary of SK Group, is pushing for a gas field development project in the Barossa Valley, Australia, in what a local climate advocacy group recently said is a possible contradiction of the company's eco-friendly business drive.
The $3.7 billion (4 trillion won) gas field set to operate for 20 years starting in 2025 goes against the subsidiary's much-touted sustainable growth initiative, as defined by its environmental, social and governance (ESG) values, according to Seoul-based Solutions for Our Climate.
The push for the carbon-heavy business is all the more appalling, the group said, given the heightened awareness of and global consensus on the need to advance green objectives, as clearly outlined by the joint statement made by 33 countries against fossil fuel investments at the COP26. Otherwise known as the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26 was held from Oct. 31 through Nov. 13, in Glasgow, Scotland.
But environmentalists vehemently criticized that claim, since only 16 percent of the produced total will be captured.
The subsidiary claimed that the project falls under the category of an ESG business, since greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced through the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS).
A website jointly set up in September by the group and three climate advocacies to campaign against the project has since drawn over 1,000 signatures.
Of the three, two are in Australia ― Jubilee Research Center and Environment Centre NT (ECNT). The remaining one is the Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES) based in Tokyo.
The campaign urges the SK subsidiary to cut all ties with the Barossa gas project.
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