Shell Doubles Investment In Green Energy, Halves Carbon Footprint By 2050
Shell, one of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world, has made a further commitment to improve on their carbon emissions. They'll be halving their footprint by 2050 and will double the investment into renewable energy through 2020.
Updated May 26 2019, 2:46 p.m. ET
Shell announced exciting new goals in their efforts to limit our planet's rising temperaturse. The multinational oil and gas company announced that they will be doubling the amount they spend on green energy, while reducing their carbon footprint by 2035. These moves comes after shareholders of the company have been wanting to see them take a more aggressive approach on these issues.
As part of Management Day 2017, company CEO Ben van Beurden updated investors on various topics including a new pathway to reduce their net carbon footprint. They’ll be cutting back on one-half of emissions from their own operations and what goes into producing the company’s products by 2050. 20 percent of it will decrease by an earlier goal of 2035.
They’ll also be doubling up on their investments into sustainable energy development, from $1 billion to $2 billion, over the next three years. This includes the creation of more wind turbines and farms, biofuels, and improving the electric vehicle infrastructure. They would also be acquiring more companies in this division after already scooping up EV battery charging networks like NewMotion.
“Tackling climate change is a cross-generational, global and multi-faceted effort,” van Beurden said in the press release. “This is a challenge for the whole planet, for all of society, for customers, for governments and indeed for businesses. It will mean meeting increasing energy demand with an ever-lower carbon footprint. And it is critical that our ambition covers the full energy lifecycle from production to consumption.’’
Shareholders such as activist group Follow This have been clamoring for the company to adopt more aggressive goals reduce the carbon footprint. Last December, the group wanted targets set for 2030 and 2050 with annual updates. 94 percent of the other shareholders voted against the proposal back in May, with the CEO believing that was “an unreasonable ask.”
However, these new goals are very similar to what Follow This wanted, and they approved of Shell’s decision. It looks like a victory for both parties as Shell will increase their spending on renewable energy, but according to The Guardian, they’re still putting the majority of their $25-30 billion investments into deepwater drilling and conventional oil and gas.
Shell believes that the new resolution won’t have any negative impacts on the company. While oil and gas will continue to be a major part of their company, they are at least taking steps to cut back on their carbon footprint while also putting more investment into renewable sources.
