"BP, Shell, and other companies say they’ll address climate change. But their pledges fall far short of what's needed to meet global climate goals."
"Bernard Looney, BP's new chief executive, stood behind the podium in a London hotel in February and announced that the company would dramatically shift the way it did business.
Framed by a multi-hued green background, Looney described a transformation of BP's structure and operations that would steer the oil giant to spend more on clean energy and less on fossil fuels. By 2050, he said, BP would achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, joining a growing list of governments and corporations committed to tackling climate change. ...
Looney's speech launched a rapid-fire game of one-upmanship among Europe's largest oil and gas companies. Within three months, Total and Royal Dutch Shell had announced their own plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, building on previous pledges to increase spending on low-carbon energy sources like wind, solar and biofuels. ...
But many of the pledges are misleading, and misrepresent how much the oil giants are changing. Most glaring is that none of the companies has committed to cut its oil and gas output over the next decade, the simplest and most reliable way—one might say the only way—to cut emissions, and a must if the world is to avoid dangerous warming. In fact, the stated net-zero "ambitions," as the companies generally call them, do not require that greenhouse gas emissions fall to zero at all. They rely instead either partly or largely on capturing or canceling out these emissions with unproven technologies and reforestation at a questionable scale."
Nicholas Kusnetz reports for InsideClimate News July 16, 2020.
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