INDUSTRY WATCH: Shell Oil Stops Investments in Clean Energies

Royal Dutch Shell took a giant step backward in the global efforts towards a cleaner, renewable energy future when it announced this month that it would stop all new investments in wind, solar and hydrogen energy. Instead, it will focus solely on oil, gas and biofuels. Link to Times Online article:

Shell is the second-largest non-state-controlled oil company in the world. The company invested $1.7 billion on alternative energies in the past five years. In comparison, their total expenditures for just the past single year were $32 billion.

Incidentally, Shell has paid much lip-service to their contributions as a “green” business leader. In fact, even after their disappointing announcement, they continue to post this on their corporate website:

“We were one of the first energy companies to acknowledge the threat of climate change; to call for action by governments, our industry and energy users; and to take action ourselves. We have stepped up our appeals to government for urgent and wide-ranging policies, and our own efforts to develop the technologies needed to reduce CO2 emissions from our operations and products.”

Shell really should heed their own advice: Now is the time when we need major investments in clean, renewable energies the most, given the long-term cost savings and sustainable prosperity of renewables over fossil-fuels, and benefits for public health, not to mention the necessity of a livable planet.

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