From Carbon to Cost: New Tool Brings Integrated Insight to Decommissioning Strategy

sustain:able has developed a decommissioning emissions forecasting tool designed to support more informed, evidence-based decision-making at asset end-of-life.

The tool quantifies emissions across all phases of decommissioning, including dismantling, transport, disposal and site reinstatement. It enables operators to compare scenarios such as full removal, partial removal and leave-in-situ, highlighting where trade-offs arise between carbon, cost, health and safety exposure, and environmental impact.

By linking emissions to operational activity, the tool provides insight into program intensity and efficiency, helping to identify opportunities to reduce both emissions and cost. Outputs are structured to support comparative assessment and regulatory submissions, providing clear, auditable evidence to underpin decision-making.

As regulatory and stakeholder expectations continue to evolve, integrating carbon alongside cost, risk and environmental considerations is becoming increasingly important.

Watch the short video below to see how the tool works in practice:

sustain:able presenting at SPE Symposium in Perth

CODA Partner sustain:able will be presenting at the SPE Symposium: Asia Pacific Decommissioning and Well P&A, taking place in Perth Australia, 11–12 November, 2025

Their paper, titled “Optimising Decommissioning Strategies: A Case Study on Emissions and Cost Reduction in Offshore Operations” presents a comparative assessment of full infrastructure removal, partial removal, and leave-in-situ scenarios, focusing on emissions and costs.

The study demonstrates how emissions forecasting tools can be applied to offshore decommissioning to identify high-impact activities, optimise vessel and power use, and highlight opportunities for cost and emissions savings. Using a North Sea case study, the analysis compares scenarios ranging from full infrastructure removal to partial removal and leave-in-situ options, showing that lower-emission strategies can often align with lower overall costs.

By integrating emissions into decommissioning planning, operators can make more informed decisions, reduce carbon liabilities, and strengthen ESG performance. These insights are highly relevant to Australia as the industry prepares for a wave of decommissioning projects, with regulators and stakeholders increasingly expecting emissions-informed strategies alongside cost efficiency and safe execution.

For more information about the symposium or to register, visit the SPE website.