SASOL RESPONSE TO COOPERATIVE AND POLICY ALTERNATIVE CENTER (COPAC) AND SOUTH AFRICAN FOOD SOVEREIGNTY CAMPAIGN (SAFSC)
Sasol is firmly committed to playing our part in transitioning to a lower-carbon economy. We support the Paris Agreement goal and South Africa’s Nationally Determined Contribution. We supported the South African government in signing up to the Paris Agreement and our position remains committed to the goal contained therein.
We are in the process of developing a carbon reduction roadmap, based on scenario analysis and will set out our carbon reduction ambitions, which will be communicated at our November 2020 Capital Markets Day.
Accelerating our climate change response to mitigate the effect of climate change and for the resilience of our business in a lower carbon future is a critical imperative for Sasol, with the aim of ensuring our business continues to thrive and serve our customers, employees, communities and other stakeholders. We use scenario analysis in our strategy formulation process to understand the resilience of our business, based on an understanding of global energy system fundamentals, including government policy and carbon economy risk.
In recent years, Sasol has taken significant decisions to divert our growth strategy away from further carbon intensive growth paths, and specifically decided on no growth into greenfields Coal-To-Liquids and Gas-To-Liquids, and in new refining capacity. We are focused on taking advantage of the opportunities that the transition presents and to drive revenue growth in less carbon-intensive businesses and on finding economically sustainable solutions to this challenge.
Our Climate Change Report to be issued by 31 October 2019, will further reflect on some of the actions taken based on our early scenario and robustness testing analysis.
In the short term our existing energy efficiency ambitions continue to be pursued which aim for a further 8% energy efficiency improvement to 2030. Our overall energy efficiency has improved by about 22% off our 2005 base. Improved energy efficiency results in reduced use of fossil fuels, and lower emissions.
For the medium to long term, we are focusing on integration of renewables into our operations and securing lower carbon feedstocks for our South African operations, taking into account the socio-economic implications when making these decisions.
Furthermore, Sasol is a voluntary participant in the South African government carbon budget process and has a cap for our emissions for the period 2016 to 2020. Mandatory carbon budgets will also be set for the period 2021 to 2025. Additional information on these activities and progress to date will be shared in our Climate Change Report and at the November 2019 Annual General Meeting.
Sasol may, in this document, make certain statements that are not historical facts that relate to analyses and other information which are based on forecasts of future results and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. These statements may also relate to our future prospects, developments and business strategies. Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding exchange rate fluctuations, volume growth, increases in market share, total shareholder return, executing our growth projects (including LCCP), oil and gas reserves and cost reductions, including in connection with our BPEP, RP and our business performance outlook. Words such as “believe”, “anticipate”, “expect”, “intend”, “seek”, “will”, “plan”, “could”, “may”, “endeavour”, “target”, “forecast” and “project” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and there are risks that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved. If one or more of these risks materialise, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. You should understand that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors are discussed more fully in our most recent annual report on Form 20-F filed on 28 August 2018 and in other filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The list of factors discussed therein is not exhaustive; when relying on forward-looking statements to make investment decisions, you should carefully consider both these factors and other uncertainties and events. Forward-looking statements apply only as of the date on which they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any of them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Please note: One billion is defined as one thousand million. bbl – barrel, bscf – billion standard cubic feet, mmscf – million standard cubic feet, oil references brent crude, mmboe – million barrels oil equivalent. All references to years refer to the financial year 30 June. Any reference to a calendar year is prefaced by the word “calendar”.
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