Strategies for mitigating climate change
Posted: 25 September 2006
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Shell announced key initiatives it has adopted for mitigating climate change and promoting learning and education in the region at the third Middle East Corporate Social Responsibility Summit.
Dr Gavin Graham, VP New Business, Middle East , Caspian and South Asia, Shell EP International Ltd said: ´Shell has incorporated two key activities in its business strategies towards fulfilling the objectives of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy. The first of these addresses climate change through the capture and utilisation of carbon dioxide while the second involves extending continued support to education, learning and development initiatives, in partnership with the Emirates Foundation, local universities and communities.ˇ
Graham added: ´Shell is deploying its capabilities and technologies in partnership with emerging players in the region, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mubadala and Al Masdar to investigate harnessing of carbon dioxide to mitigate the effect of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change.
´Shell is working to achieve Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) through a process whereby CO2 from industrial sources is captured, compressed and then injected into depleted oil fields. This process could increase the ultimate recovery of oil by more than 10 per cent, thus enhancing the potential for additional oil recovery and yielding fuel that could be equivalent to several years of current global oil demand.
´The second area of focus in Shell˙s CSR policy is its continued support to education, learning and development initiatives. Demographic changes coupled with the high rate of unemployment among youth in the Middle East , which currently stands at 26 per cent, will generate a demand for 80 to100 million jobs over the next 20 years. This makes it imperative for successive generations to be properly educated and trained and kept away from unemployment.
´Shell has introduced a range of new learning initiatives from e-learning to what we refer to as blended learning, where learning takes place beyond the classroom and occurs every day. Shell has also embarked on a new learning initiative jointly with the Middle East Association, Compass Rose International, Emirates Foundation, local universities and communities, to promote sustainable learning and development across the region and build skills and capabilities of young Nationals to meet the needs of the energy sector and other economic areas.ˇ
The four-day regional meet sponsored by Shell, brought together reputed international policy makers, corporate leaders and business heads to explore the relevance, adoption and future of CSR in the region. Shell launched the initiative three years ago to demonstrate its commitment to Sustainable Development of the communities within which it operates. |
