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Sonatrach is embarking on a massive construction project Reforestation In Algeria. As part of its decarbonization strategy, the Algerian gas giant plans to plant 420 million trees across 560,000 hectares of land across the country. The total cost of the project is $1 billion.
Algeria is more vulnerable to global warming as the desert advances and threatens to engulf more of the country’s north.
this forest The country is also hit by massive fires every year, which reduce thousands of hectares of trees and vegetation to ash.
Forest destroyed by fire
According to a World Bank report released last November, 20,000 hectares of forests are destroyed by fires in Algeria every year. In 2021, forest fires in Algeria killed 103 people. In 2022, another 54 citizens died in fires.
The energy sector is considered to be the largest emitter of greenhouse gases and should be included in the strategy to combat climate change.
Abdelkrim Ouamer, the group’s director of health, safety and environment, said that as part of this large-scale operation, the first pilot project will soon start, which will plant 10 million trees over an area of 10,000 to 13,000 hectares.
The manager, appearing on Algerian Radio on Monday, July 29, said the project will be implemented in collaboration with the General Directorate of Forests (DGF).
The DGF will be responsible for the feasibility study of the project, which will identify the forest land to be reforested and the tree species to be planted.
But the NOC manager said it had been decided to include part of the operation in the revival of the Green Dam, a belt of forest stretching more than 1,000 kilometers west across eastern Algeria that was created in 2007 to hold back the advance of the desert in the 1970s.
The national oil company has integrated climate change into its governance and has implemented a strategy to reduce carbon and methane emissions across its entire chain of activities, with a firm goal: to achieve emissions neutrality by 2050.
More than 400 million trees planted across Algeria: Sonatrach’s massive project
“We are convinced that natural gas has a future in the energy transition initiated in Algeria, while ensuring that this gas is produced under conditions that guarantee respect for the environment,” explained Sonatrach senior management.
In its latest report, the UN praised Algeria’s performance in reducing flaring, which has dropped by 28% since 2020.
The goal is to reduce the flaring rate to below 1%, in line with Algeria’s international commitments.
To help reduce emissions, NOC has identified “mitigation” and “compensation” solutions.
This includes decarbonising the group’s activities by integrating clean energy and stamping out “fugitive” emissions, or small leaks from pipes and other installations. “Energy-intensive” sites are audited to improve energy efficiency, the manager said.
Offsets are a contribution to capturing gases that are “unavoidably” emitted by installations in the oil and gas industry.
The upcoming major reforestation campaign is part of this strategy. In short, the hundreds of millions of trees that will be planted will be able to capture part of the emissions that cannot be recycled in the energy sector’s activity chain. “This will offset most of our own consumption,” explains Mr. Vamel.
The offset will be done by planting large numbers of trees to “naturally sequester” carbon emissions.
The National Oil Company is currently working on two fronts. The first is physical, that is, the plantations themselves. The second is registration and certification, allowing the recovery of credits on an international scale.
Abdelkrim Ouamer stressed that the plan obviously has huge environmental benefits, but also makes economic sense through the development of agroforestry and the creation of jobs.
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