Kota Kinabalu: A circular economy is a systemic approach that moves away from a linear (take-make-waste) economy to one that extends the life cycle of materials and resources, ultimately reducing waste to a minimum.
For Petronas, according to Melvin Lim Chee Liang, Petronas Senior Manager for Circular Economy, “Circular economy is integral to our Sustainability Approach, embedded across the group to enable a low waste future, steward natural resources, minimise our carbon footprint while creating value.”
He was speaking for Petronas on the forum topic of: “Circular Economy: Future Growth Area for Sabah towards NetZero?” at Sabah Oil, Gas & Energy Conference & Exhibition 2024 (SOGCE’24) at SICC on Friday June 28.
“We aim to contribute to a circular future, providing impactful solutions to our stakeholders and the betterment of our society through innovation and collaboration.
“This is in line with our Statement of Purpose: ‘A progressive energy and solutions partner enriching lives for a sustainable future’,” Lim said stressing that Petronas is a global energy company, present in more than 100 countries and listed on the Fortune Global 500 with a revenue of RM372.3 billion in 2022, producing 2,434 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day.
He said: Across Petronas, there are 50 circular economy projects of varying sizes and maturity levels with Petronas’ renewable energy capacity in 2023 reaching 2.9 Gigawatt (GW).
“Petronas has five approaches for purposeful circular economy adoption. They are Waste to Products, Circular Carbon, Repurpose & Reuse, Sharing Model, and Bio Solutions,” Lim said.
Waste to Products involves the change of waste to base materials or other products to create new revenue lines.
Circular Carbon involves a closed loop system involving 4Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle, remove – to manage carbon emissions.
Repurpose & Reuse involves lifecycle extension of materials / resources / facilities to their original or new purpose to reduce waste.
The Sharing Model involves optimisation of resources via shared platforms to increase cost efficiency and reduce waste.
Bio Solutions involves the use of bio-based inputs or products – regenerated – to reduce dependency on finite materials, for example, the use of used cooking oil repurposed to sustainably fuel a Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in the past.
These are the five approaches to adopt the circular economy in Petronas involving innovation and collaboration, according to Lim.
Embracing a circular economy and achieving NetZero can prevent up to 1.5 degree Celsius of global warming, and mitigating severe climate impacts.
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