Royal Dutch Shell, one of the excessive oil companies, said this week that it can confirm that it has reached the highest oil production in 2019. As in, he thinks he will never produce so much oil again.
Shell also said it believes carbon emissions will peak in 2018. Shell revealed both on Thursday in a press release, which is meant to convince readers that Shell is doing what it can to no longer contribute to climate change not.
Van Shell’s release, emphasizes mine:
- will continue with short-term goals that will reduce carbon emissions as we make progress towards our 2050 target linked to the remuneration of more than 16,500 staff. This includes a new set of targets to reduce our net carbon intensity: 6-8% by 2023, 20% by 2030, 45% by 2035 and 100% by 2050, using a 2016 baseline;
- expects its total carbon emissions to peak at 1.7 gigatons per year in 2018;
- confirms that its total oil production peaked in 2019;
- will try to have access to 25 million tonnes per year of carbon, capture and storage capacity (CCS) by 2035. Currently, three major CCS projects of which Shell is a part, Quest in Canada (in operation), Northern Lights in Norway (approved) and Porthos in the Netherlands (planned), will cover approximately 4.5 million tonnes of capacity;
- aims to use nature-based solutions (NMS), in line with the philosophy of avoiding, reducing and only mitigating, to compensate by 2030 emissions of about 120 million tonnes per year, with those we use of the highest independently verified quality;
[…]
An expected gradual decline in oil production of about 1-2% per year, including sales and natural decline.
It was all enough to not satisfy some environmentalists, according to The New York Times, although this is to be expected; until we get to the other side of climate change, some things will never be enough. Still, it’s a little crazy how fast the oil companies have moved.
Greenpeace UK said in a statement that Shell’s strategy could not succeed or be ‘taken seriously’ without specific commitments regarding production cuts. Greenpeace also described Shell’s plans to offset emissions through the establishment and protection of forests and wetlands as ‘error’.
[Adam Matthews, director of ethics and engagement of the Church of England Pensions Board] said the increasingly detailed plans to reduce emissions generated by European oil companies were a major step forward three years ago, when such discussions were barely under way.
“At that time, things were moving very significantly,” he said.
Let us not get carried away with praise; it is also a business decision, and large multinational companies are not betting the future of their business on doing the right thing. But still, as someone who grew up with the old Big Oil: Weird, man.