In This Section
Managing our Carbon Footprint
Denbury recognizes that climate change is a continuing global concern for governments, businesses, and society. The reduction of greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions is important, and we take the responsibility of protecting our environment seriously. Part of our obligation is to report GHG emissions and develop procedures and methods to collect data critical for calculating these emissions. In addition, our operating strategy, which focuses on CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery (“EOR”) and Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (“CCUS”), has measurable environmental benefits. We are committed to utilizing emerging technologies, where feasible, to capture or reduce emissions and to improve our carbon efficiency.
We are committed to engaging with stakeholders, policy makers, regulators, and our industry on climate change issues and to addressing our impact on the environment. As the world demands energy to fuel tomorrow’s economy and provide a better quality of life, we must meet the demand with a focus on reducing atmospheric CO2 emissions. We are uniquely positioned to leverage our experience and existing CO2 infrastructure to lead in the evolving CCUS industry and facilitate a meaningful reduction in CO2 emissions.
We have set a target to reach Net Zero, including Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 (Category 11: Use of Sold Products) (“Scope 3”) emissions associated with the refining and combustion of our produced hydrocarbons, by 2030. We continuously strive to find innovative, efficient, and cost-effective ways to reduce emissions, effluents and waste in our operations as it is our responsibility to take part in the shared effort to protect and preserve our environment.
With our focus on CO2 EOR and CCUS, we offer environmental benefits not generally associated with oil and gas operations. Perhaps most significantly, CCUS results in reduced carbon emissions. We are active in CCUS today, injecting CO2 captured from industrial sources into depleting oil reservoirs to aid in oil recovery. As a result of the nature of the entire process, nearly all of the CO2 used in the process remains incidentally stored underground. We have been utilizing CO2 from industrial sources since 2012, totaling over 26 million metric tons at year-end 2021.
An effective corporate climate change strategy requires a detailed understanding of a company’s GHG emissions. Denbury reports direct GHG emissions resulting from its operations as well as indirect GHG emissions associated with the consumption of electricity. The data reported by Denbury is available to the public via the Environmental Protection Agency’s website.
As illustrated by the charts below, in 2019, 2020 and 2021, the associated storage of industrially-sourced CO2 used in our EOR operations more than offset Denbury’s entire Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.¹
Net GHG Emissions — Year ENDED 12/31/2019, 12/31/2020 & 12/31/2021
| Year | Scope 1 | Scope 2 | Industrial Sourced CO2 Injections (tonnes) | Scope 1 & 2 Net | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 806,209 | 940,809 | 2,805,149 | (1,058,131) | |
| 2020 | 777,852 | 903,180 | 2,746,486 | (1,065,454) | |
| 2021 | 986,556 | 820,900 | 3,800,515 | (1,993,059) | |
GHG Emissions — Year ENDED 12/31/2019
| Region | Scope 1 | Scope 2 | Scope 3 | CO2e (tonnes) | Industrial Sourced CO2 Injections (tonnes) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Mountains | 291,011 | 344,542 | 3,963,413 | 4,598,966 | 1,810,136 | |
| Gulf Coast | 515,198 | 592,491 | 8,146,599 | 9,254,288 | 995,013 | |
| Headquarters | — | 3,776 | — | 3,776 | — | |
| Total | 806,209 | 940,809 | 12,110,012 | 13,857,030 | 2,805,149 | |
| Region | Scope 1 Net | Scope 1 & 2 Net | Scope 1, 2 & 3 Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Mountains | (1,519,125) | (1,174,583) | 2,788,830 |
| Gulf Coast | (479,815) | 112,676 | 8,259,275 |
| Headquarters | — | 3,776 | 3,776 |
| Total | (1,998,940) | (1,058,131) | 11,051,881 |
GHG Emissions — Year ENDED 12/31/2020
| Region | Scope 1 | Scope 2 | Scope 3 | CO2e (tonnes) | Industrial Sourced CO2 Injections (tonnes) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Mountains | 267,980 | 339,342 | 3,529,119 | 4,136,441 | 1,658,800 | |
| Gulf Coast | 509,872 | 561,645 | 7,764,696 | 8,836,213 | 1,087,686 | |
| Headquarters | — | 2,193 | — | 2,193 | — | |
| Total | 777,852 | 903,180 | 11,293,815 | 12,974,847 | 2,746,486 | |
| Region | Scope 1 Net | Scope 1 & 2 Net | Scope 1, 2 & 3 Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Mountains | (1,390,820) | (1,051,478) | 2,477,641 |
| Gulf Coast | (577,814) | (16,169) | 7,748,527 |
| Headquarters | — | 2,193 | 2,193 |
| Total | (1,968,634) | (1,065,454) | 10,228,361 |
GHG Emissions — Year ENDED 12/31/2021
| Region | Scope 1 | Scope 2 | Scope 3 | CO2e (tonnes) | Industrial Sourced CO2 Injections (tonnes) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Mountains | 339,204 | 324,337 | 3,648,044 | 4,311,585 | 2,611,653 | |
| Gulf Coast | 647,352 | 495,985 | 7,704,992 | 8,848,329 | 1,188,862 | |
| Headquarters | — | 578 | — | 578 | — | |
| Total | 986,556 | 820,900 | 11,353,036 | 13,160,492 | 3,800,515 | |
| Region | Scope 1 Net | Scope 1 & 2 Net | Scope 1, 2 & 3 Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Mountains | (2,272,449) | (1,948,112) | 1,699,932 |
| Gulf Coast | (541,510) | (45,525) | 7,659,467 |
| Headquarters | — | 578 | 578 |
| Total | (2,813,959) | (1.993,059) | 9,359,977 |
As part of our commitment to increasing energy efficiency, we evaluate our operations on an ongoing basis to ensure we are using the most efficient feasible technology. Denbury implements updates and changes throughout our operations to reduce our carbon footprint and increase our efficiency. Increasing energy efficiency benefits both our economic results as well as our environmental efforts.
Denbury’s Leak Detection and Repair (“LDAR”) program adheres to various state and federal requirements for site monitoring with concentration meters and infrared imaging to detect and repair gas leaks at our facilities that are invisible to the eye.
Denbury is an active member of the American Petroleum Institute-sponsored Environmental Partnership which is committed to continuously improving the industry’s environmental performance.
In addition, we employ an internal emission inspection program, which requires site components to be inspected at least once every two to three years. This ensures emission compliance and verifies that reporting data is accurate.
