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U.S. oil majors fall behind on climate, European lead

Major European oil companies are making major efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change. American majors are dragging their behinds.

Royal Dutch Shell pledged Tuesday to slash carbon emission by 50 percent and boost investment in clean, renewable energy. CEO Ben van Beurden promised to spend at least $2 billion on on wind power, biofuels and electric cars, about the same amount it will spend on shale oil.

“It is making sure that the products within society have an overall lower carbon footprint,” Beurden told investors, according to the Guardian newspaper. “That is the long-term way of making sure our business remains a relevant business in the face of the energy transition.”

The company has been a consistent leader in addressing climate change, moving away from oil and investing more in natural gas. While the $2 billion investment remains small, Shell’s leading the way in its commitment to reduce emissions, including the construction of a carbon capture project in Canada.

American oil companies, meanwhile, are slow-walking their efforts to address climate change. Two weeks ego Exxon Mobil joined Shell and BP in promising to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas operations, but the company set no goals.

Irish physicist John Tyndall identified methane as a greenhouse gas in 1861, and environmentalists have called on oil companies to reduce emissions since 1990. So promising to reduce methane emissions is far overdue, if for no other reason, methane is valuable as a the primary constituent of natural gas.

Exxon’s pledge also comes only after shareholders rebelled against management in May, demanding that the company report what is is doing to keep the planet’s average temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius.

Overall, though, American oil companies are still not joining their European counterparts in supporting the Paris Climate Accord.

None have joined the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, which includes Shell, BP, Total, Eni, Statoil, Saudi Aramco, Pemex, Repsol, CNPC, and Reliance Industries. Those companies are investing in ways to meet the world’s energy needs while slowing down global warming.

The problem, of course, is that America’s dominate political party remains afraid to publicly acknowledge reality or to address the warming planet. While the Department of Defense lists climate change as perhaps the biggest threat to global stability, President Donald Trump refuses to acknowledge the science at all.

U.S. oil executives, though, should recognize that Republicans will eventually acknowledge climate change. Major investors like Black Rock and Vanguard will no longer allow companies to ignore the problem, and Norway’s massive sovereign fund may soon divest from fossil fuel companies entirely.

The rest of the world is implementing the Paris Accord to fight climate change, and the fact that the U.S. is the only country sitting it out will only isolate us politically and economically. American oil executives who think that backward political thinking in the U.S. will protect them are being foolish.

U.S. energy companies have a lot of catching up to do, they’d better get on it if they don’t want the Europeans to eclipse them in a low-carbon economy.

SOURCE

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