Oil companies are making only small investments in wind farms
Associated Press/Alami
Leading oil and gas companies own less than 1.5% of the world's renewable energy capacity, raising questions about how committed they are to the green energy transition, despite their public statements.
Marcel Pasquin keychain And Antonio Bontempi at the Autonomous University of Barcelona examined the ownership records of more than 53,000 wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal projects around the world, as tracked by the non-governmental organization Global Energy Monitor. They then cross-checked them to see how much of them belonged to the world's 250 largest oil and gas companies, which together account for 88 percent of global hydrocarbon production.
Many fossil fuel companies have pledged to invest in renewable energy as the world tries to transition away from oil and gas, but researchers found that the top companies own only 1.42 percent of the world's total operating renewable capacity. More than half of them—about 54 percent—were owned through acquisitions rather than by companies developing their own projects. After calculating the total energy production of 250 firms, the pair found that renewable energy made up just 0.13 percent of the energy produced by these companies.
“The results were unexpected even for me,” says Llavero Pasquina. “I knew they were playing a very small role in the energy transition. I knew it was just for show. It was just to frame their narrative. But I didn't expect such a low number.”
Llavero Pasquina and Bontempi are members of a group called Environmental justicewhich aims to conduct research to “explore and contribute to the global environmental justice movement.” Llavero Pasquina says his campaign position strengthens his research. “You are most interested in being as strict as possible because you need to convince and show what is true.”
The fact that big energy companies, which made their names and fortunes in oil and gas, are not big players in the renewable energy space is not surprising, he says. Thierry brothers at Sciences Po in Paris. “At the end of the day, [the energy transition] There has to be something destructive and it won’t be in the hands of these companies.”
However, Bros believes that large energy companies are inappropriately promoting their work on the energy transition. “They portray themselves [as] “They don't do much because I think it's completely outside their scope,” he says, which involves capturing carbon as it is released, such as from burning fossil fuels.
Offshore Energies UK, the industry body representing the UK's offshore energy sector, including oil, gas, wind, carbon capture and hydrogen, declined to comment directly on the study's findings. However, he pointed to a previous statement by its chief executive, David Whitehouse. “Oil and gas, wind and new low-carbon technologies are not a conflict, but part of one integrated system. It is the skills of our people, the same people who built the North Sea, that will enable this transition.” He said.
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