Podcast: The IAGC's Ghost Net Initiative: A Quick Dive
We sit down with Alex Loureiro, Director of Marine Environment and Biology at the IAGC to discuss the Ghost Net Initiative: a marine debris removal and tracking effort.
Listen NowWe believe that our multi-client business model not only benefits customers commercially but also is a more sustainable, environmentally friendly business model than the alternative of proprietary acquisition. We remain committed to understanding the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and finding ways to reduce its impact as well as minimizing and mitigating the impact that our activities have on the marine and land environments and communities around them.
TGS is committed to protecting the environment in which we live and work, while also conducting our operations in an environmentally sustainable and responsible manner. We strive to lead the industry in minimizing the impact of our globally and with our partners.
In 2020, TGS continued to incorporate climate risk into its business and operational strategy by using the “Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures” (TCFD, set up by the Financial Stability Board) so that it can address the financial impacts of climate risks and opportunities.
Governance |
TGS Board Oversight TGS Leadership’s Role |
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Strategy |
TGS’ strategy to address climate impact is influenced by the following key factors: impact of market conditions and the oil price, shifts in customer behavior, advancements in technology and changes in legislation and policy. TGS regularly reviews and adjusts its strategy to mitigate and account for the impact of these key factors. In 2021, TGS modified its strategy to diversify its business and revenue stream to serve carbon capture and storage, deep sea mining, geothermal energy, wind energy and solar energy. This adjusted strategy addresses the potential financial impact to the changes in oil and gas exploration and provides business opportunities for new revenue streams, products and services. TGS aims to achieve this strategy through both organic and inorganic growth. Risks Opportunities |
Risk Mangement |
Risks and opportunities are identified, assessed and managed at the overall corporate level, department level and project level. These risk assessments analyze changes in our industry and market, customer behavior, environmental legislation and industry practices, and developments in technology. Identifying Risks Managing Risks Integrated Risk Management |
Metrics & Targets |
2021 Scope 1 emissions: < 1 mt CO2e
Scope 2 emissions: 11,208.25 mt CO2e
Scope 3 emissions (operations): 133,488.86 mt CO2e
TGS follows the Greenhouse Gas Protocol in classifying, deriving and calculating its emissions. The Scope 1 and 2 emissions calculations are based upon the IEA International Electricity Factors (2020), UK DEFRA - Conversion Factors (2020), US EPA - eGRID 2019 Sub Region and US EPA - Emissions Factor Hub 2020. Scope 3 marine operations emissions calculations are based on the European Commission’s “Quantification of Emissions from Ships Associated with Ship Movements between Ports in the European Community,” July 2002; Econometrica “Greenhouse Gases, CO2, CO2e, and Carbon: What do all these Terms Mean?,” August 2012; “Excise Duty on Emissions of NOx,” 2015 no. 14/2015S; The Greenhouse Gas Protocol; and the EPA’s “Greenhouse Gas Inventory Guidance: Direct Emissions from Stationary Combustion Sources,” December 2020. Scope 3 land and airborne seismic operations emissions calculations are based upon the EPA Simplified GHG Emissions Calculator (SGEC) version 3.2 June 2014. Targets Scope 1 and 2 short-term CO2e target: remain below the baseline levels established in 2020 (12,355 mt CO2e) |
TGS is an office-based company that does not operate or own vessels, manufacturing plants or factories. Nevertheless, TGS is committed to working towards understanding the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in all its operations and finding ways to reduce its impact.
TGS leases office space for our 443 employees in the United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Brazil, Australia and Canada, and does not operate or own vessels, manufacturing plants or factories. TGS’ Scope 1 emissions are not material to our overall emissions and are solely related to two vehicles maintained by the company for local deliveries in Houston and Oslo. TGS does not consider the impact of either our water usage or waste from our office operations to be material; however, recycling bins for paper and cardboard, glass, plastic, batteries and print toner cartridges are available in TGS offices, and employees are encouraged to follow proper recycling procedures. In 2021, TGS’ Houston Operational Headquarters (which is the Company’s largest office with approximately two-thirds of the workforce) composted 3.4 tons of waste and recycled 4 tons of trash, diverting a total of 7.4 tons of waste (29% of total waste) from being deposited in a landfill.
CO2e (mt) | CO2 (mt) | CH4 (kg) | N2O (kg) | |
2020 (Baseline) | 337.75 | 337.12 | .45 | .18 |
2021 | .67 | .66 | 0 | 0 |
Energy usage in our offices and data centers make up TGS’ Scope 2 emissions. Energy consumption for data processing and high-performance computing are responsible for the bulk of the emissions related to the generation of purchased energy (Scope 2), with our Houston data centers comprising 93% of Scope 2 emissions and 92% of kwh usage. As a result of this, over 99% of TGS emissions and 98% of kwh usage occurs in TGS’ US offices and data centers.
kwh | C02e (mt) | C02 (mt) | CH4 (kg) | N20 (kg) | |
2020 Total (Baseline) | 33,634,278 | 12,558.61 | 12,501.23 | 845.98 | 121.58 |
- Offices | 3,645,301 | 1,378.58 | 1,373.02 | 89.77 | 12.04 |
- Data Centers | 29,988,977 | 11,517.51 | 11,465.33 | 774.28 | 110.16 |
2021 Total | 28,564,309 | 11,215.16 | 11,166.70 | 614.43 | 111.08 |
- Offices | 2,420,961 | 769.67 | 766.21 | 43.38 | 7.97 |
- Data Centers | 26,143,348 | 10,466.16 | 10,401.16 | 571.05 | 103.12 |
As the above chart shows, there was a 15% decrease in kwh usage between 2020 and 2021 and an 11% decrease in CO2e emissions. Office emissions dropped by 44% while data center emissions dropped by 9%. The data center emissions decrease is notable because our on-premise compute actually increased in 2021. The chart below illustrates the growth in on-premise compute capability measured in teraflops (TFLOPS) from 2018-2021 (left axis). The right axis shows a decrease in the amount of kWh required to run 1 teraflop for a year. As the graph portrays, TGS is becoming more energy efficient in our compute capabilities at our on-premise data centers.
Houston, TEXAS (10 August 2021) – Further reinforcing its commitment to ESG and its employees, TGS, a global provider of energy data and intelligence, today announced that it is set to install a landmark solar energy parking canopy at its operational headquarters in Houston, Texas. Consisting of 1,700 modules, the installation is projected to boast an annual output of 929,034 kilowatt hours of energy – creating a unique approach to achieving the Company’s net-zero targets. The TGS solar energy parking canopy is also marked as one of the most innovative and largest solar panel projects in the Houston area.
In 2022, TGS will continue its efforts to minimize its climate and environmental impact. TGS has set the target of ensuring its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions remain below the 2020 baseline levels and to achieve its overall goal of Net Zero in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030. TGS will aim to complete its climate scenario analysis and publish a summary of its findings and continue its collaboration with the industry to develop unified carbon accounting standards for seismic operations.
The Company will continue with several key initiatives in its marine operations and ensure that its marine contractors abide by TGS’ environmental standards, including requiring participation in EnerGeo’s Ghost Net Initiative (GNI) for marine acquisition projects, aiming for zero reportable spills and unplanned releases to the marine environment during seismic vessel operations, and require each chartered vessel undergo an IMCA/OVID audit within six months of hire, and every twelve months thereafter.
With respect to its land operations, all land contractors will continue to be required to report all spills to TGS, regardless of quantity spilled, with the aim of no reportable spills to the environment and to contain and properly clean up all spills, regardless of how much was spilled. TGS will require documented audits of field equipment and HSE procedures for all new surveys to ensure that all equipment is in proper working order and that HSE procedures adequately mitigate potential environmental impacts.
We sit down with Alex Loureiro, Director of Marine Environment and Biology at the IAGC to discuss the Ghost Net Initiative: a marine debris removal and tracking effort.
Listen Now