The Real Reason Why Shell Aims for ‘Net-Zero’

Source: The Real Reason Why Shell Aims for ‘Net-Zero’

When Shell reported that its oil production had peaked back in February, the more optimistic among us were tempted to celebrate it as a promising sign of the times. Sure, the oil giant was still aiming to keep selling oil and gas for many decades to come, but it was also promising shifts into cleaner-sounding technologies like electric vehicle charging, electricity sales, and bioethanol. 

As activists and journalists told us at the time, however, the real test would be in how fast the company would wind down its fossil fuel sales, and how quickly it would ramp up the alternatives. The answers to those questions are now coming into focus with Shell’s newly published Energy Transition Strategy, which is due to be voted on by shareholders at the company’s AGM today. The details are not exactly pretty. https://2b92eeea62f617ab2f243232ab0324b3.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

In a deep dive for ACCR Lobby Watch that sometimes feels like a masterclass in sarcastic commentary delivered in chart form, Australian renewable energy expert Ketan Joshi took a look at exactly why the Energy Transition Strategy really is no such thing. Probably the single biggest trick Shell is trying to pull, says Joshi, is to encourage us to focus on emissions intensity, not absolute emissions.

Joshi wrote on Medium: “They are freezing their fossil fuel business, not winding it down. And as we know, emissions are cumulative. If you freeze at a high level, you are actively deciding to worsen climate harm. The only way out: pulling with all our might on this system to bring it down to zero ASAP. Anything less is causing avoidable harm.”