• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
BREAKING: U.S. Senate Passes Historic $369B Climate Package August 7, 2022
Researchers Point To ‘Dangerously Unexplored’ Risk of Global Climate Catastrophe August 2, 2022
Koch Network Pressures Manchin, Sinema as Advocates Praise ‘Game Changing’ Climate Deal August 2, 2022
Coastal GasLink Cost Skyrockets 70% to $11.2B August 2, 2022
Ottawa Releases Regulatory ‘Frame’ for Net-Zero Grid by 2035 August 2, 2022
Next
Prev

Shell Draws Praise, Pushback for 2050 Net-Zero Pledge

April 19, 2020
Reading time: 4 minutes
Primary Author: Compiled by Mitchell Beer @mitchellbeer

Ramon FVelasquez/Wikipedia

Ramon FVelasquez/Wikipedia

 

Royal Dutch Shell is receiving some praise and a healthy dose of pushback after unveiling plans to become a “net-zero carbon company” by 2050.

While one major green investors’ group hailed the announcement as the farthest-reaching commitment yet by any oil and gas company, critics warned that Shell’s focus on the carbon intensity of its operations—rather than absolute carbon reductions—would lead to a dangerous reliance on unproven carbon removal technologies. “How is a reduction of 65% in the intensity of your products by 2050 compatible w net zero by 2050?” tweeted ShareAction Campaign Manager Jeanne Martin. “The [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] is clear that ‘CO2 removal deployed at scale is unproven & reliance on such technology is a major risk in the ability to limit warming to 1.5°C’.”

In his announcement last week, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden—who recently and famously lamented that the colossal fossil has “no choice” but to continue exploring for oil and gas—said the company will keep its eye on long-term net carbon reductions, “even at this time of immediate challenge” due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Society’s expectations have shifted quickly in the debate around climate change,” he declared. “Shell now needs to go further with our own ambitions, which is why we aim to be a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 or sooner. Society, and our customers, expect nothing less.”

Van Beurden told investors last week that the company will “toughen its existing target to shrink the carbon intensity of its products by 50% within 30 years, to reach 65% by 2050,” The Guardian writes. “The plan includes an interim target to cut so-called Scope 3 emissions by more than a third by 2030, up from 20% previously.”

Bloomberg adds that Shell’s plan follows “in the footsteps of its peers BP Plc and Repsol SA, which have already set similar targets. Shell’s move indicates that, despite the turmoil caused in the industry by the coronavirus, major oil and gas companies aren’t abandoning the transition to cleaner energy.”

The Guardian explains that Shell’s target “relies on the oil and gas company shifting its business towards selling clean energy products such as renewable energy and biofuels, and working alongside its ‘net-zero’ customers to also help offset the carbon impact, too.” The company “said it plans to work with its customers, such as major airlines, to share the burden of offsetting the carbon from fossil fuel products which may still be in use by 2050, such as jet fuels.”

Shell also “plans to offset its own emissions by trapping as much carbon as its business operations cause through new carbon capture technologies or through natural solutions such as planting trees,” The UK-based paper adds.

In light of the announcement, “investors will now look to other energy companies to match, and build on, the welcome ambition Shell is showing,” said Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), a group of companies with more than €30 trillion in assets under management.

Church of England Pensions Board Director Adam Matthews agreed that Shell’s focus on developing net-zero pathways in areas like aviation was welcome. “Ultimately, it will be by developing and supporting net-zero pathways in these sectors that we will achieve the goals of the Paris agreement,” he told The Guardian. Euractiv cites the Pensions Board as lead investor in the Climate Action 100+, a group with more than US$40 trillion in assets.

But Richard George, head of Greenpeace UK’s climate campaign, said a real net-zero plan “would start with a commitment to stop drilling for new oil and gas. Instead, investors are being fobbed off with vague aspirations that don’t tackle Shell’s monstrous carbon footprint and pass the buck to Shell’s customers to offset their emissions,”

Netherlands-based investment group Follow This said Shell was taking a step in the right direction, but still falling short of the carbon reduction targets in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Bloomberg says Follow This previously filed a shareholder resolution asking the Dutch-British colossal fossil to adopt concrete targets, “but Shell on Thursday advised shareholders to vote against the plan, saying that it is ‘unnecessary’ and ‘counterproductive’.”

Oil Change International’s Andy Rowell notes that last week’s announcement “does not mean Shell kicking fossil fuels as soon as possible. It means carrying on drilling and betting on technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS), which remain unproven at scale. We have previously exposed that a carbon footprint target is an accounting trick that allows Shell to meet its climate ambition, even if Shell increases its fossil fuel production and sales.”



in Air & Marine, Bioenergy, CCS & Negative Emissions, Climate Denial & Greenwashing, Community Climate Finance, COP Conferences, Energy Politics, International Agencies & Studies, Oil & Gas

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Bernard Spragg/flickr
Energy Politics

$12.3B in Profit over 3 Months as Big Fossils Reject Federal Emissions Cap

August 11, 2022
208
Σ64/Wikimedia Commons
Hydrogen

Global Push for Hydrogen Sidesteps Knowledge Gaps on Climate Impacts

August 11, 2022
234
Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion

Focus Blame for Climate Change on Fossils and Governments, Ecoanalytics Advises

August 11, 2022
108

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Bernard Spragg/flickr

$12.3B in Profit over 3 Months as Big Fossils Reject Federal Emissions Cap

August 11, 2022
208
Σ64/Wikimedia Commons

Global Push for Hydrogen Sidesteps Knowledge Gaps on Climate Impacts

August 11, 2022
234
Protect The Planet

Trans Mountain Work Site Blocks Early Salmon Run on Coquihalla River, Local Observers Say

August 11, 2022
332
François GOGLINS/wikimedia commons

Corrosion Problem Shutters Half of France’s Nuclear Reactors

August 2, 2022
1.5k
Joseph Brent/Flickr

Green Hydrogen Will Cost Less than Fossil-Fuelled ‘Blue’, Shell CEO Admits

August 7, 2022
746
Early stages of construction on the Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor in France

Failing French Nuclear Plants Drive Up Electricity Costs as Heat Waves Cut Production

August 8, 2022
451

Recent Posts

Focus Blame for Climate Change on Fossils and Governments, Ecoanalytics Advises

August 11, 2022
108
TheKurgan/Wikipedia

Ontario Pension Giant May Be Getting the Memo on Fossil Divestment, Members Say

August 11, 2022
33
@stan_sdcollins/Twitter

Stranded Communities Hope for Emergency Food Supplies as Newfoundland Wildfires Rage

August 11, 2022
14
Maurizio Pesce/Wikimedia Commons

Tesla Lobbying Points to Ontario as Possible EV Manufacturing Site

August 11, 2022
34
MENA/Flickr

Ontario Gains from U.S. EV Tax Credit, But Plans No Incentives for Local Drivers

August 11, 2022
37
Twitter

Shelling of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Plant Raises Fears for Nuclear Safety

August 11, 2022
32
Next Post
Amazon workers protest Minnesota

Two Amazon Employees Fired After Advocating for Better Virus Protections

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}