I have never been much inclined to consider anyone ‘my enemy’, and when I have spoken with researchers and others from ‘Big Oil’ companies, it bothers me that it was sometimes considered as ‘collaborating with the enemy’.
Fossil-fuel companies like Exxon, BP and Shell have a lot to answer for, for sure. There are pages and pages I could write about deceitful behavior and lobbying, about disregard for standards or improvements (or science), about actively disregarding and shifting responsibility, and lately, of course, about making a lot of money off the backs of average citizens having to pay huge increases at the gas pump.
Yes, indeed. There is no shortage of complaints to levy at ‘Big Oil’.
But here’s the deal. They’re also not stupid. They know two things:
We will be moving more rapidly towards renewables, and Gen Z (especially) just won’t put up with unnecessary delays on that score
And we will still need oil and gas for a while yet. (Even simply in the production of plastic, let alone for fuel).
So what’s an oil company to do?
Well, first of all you recast yourself as an energy company and not just a fossil fuel company. Some (though not all) of this new branding is greenwashing, for sure. I don’t think that should be a surprise to anyone. However, most large oil companies are indeed putting billions (with a b) of dollars towards alternative energy and electrification. And it matters more than we’d like to admit.
When I was giving a talk one time on climate and agriculture, someone from the audience asked one of the panelists - a local sustainable agriculture nonprofit CEO - “who sells the most organic produce in our area?”. I fully expected him to say the local small-chain ‘green’ supermarkets, but he said Walmart and Ingles (a regional non-specialty mid-range ‘normal’ supermarket). But of course, it makes sense. The stores that sell the most of everything, and that have the biggest presence in the towns, also sell the most ‘good stuff’ too.
Well, the same will be true of our energy companies.
For example, BP just spent several billion dollars on a variety of renewable companies and projects over the last several years - so much so that it’s making investors nervous that the company is transitioning too fast to renewables. And most of these new acquisitions are currently losing money. BP is one of only a few such companies who could afford to invest in new ventures that are not yet profitable. Your local utility can’t, and the small energy companies just don’t have the assets to front (and risk) that kind of cash.
The investment scale is important if we are to rapidly expand renewables and electrification.
At the same time, the continued exploitation of gas (which we will need for a while yet) has to get more energy efficient and cleaner, while more carbon capture and storage (CCS) must also be deployed on existing plants and projects. The oil companies are the only companies that can achieve that of course, preferably with the accelerated ‘push’ from governments that demand it.
So, this is not a defense of Big Oil - they have been and are still a large part of the problem. However, they are also now and can be in the future, a large part of the solution.
Our job is to continue to hold them accountable and applaud their better decisions and investments.
But we can’t do that while thinking of them or calling them our ‘enemy’.
Comments open to all - please weigh in!
Perhaps if their investors applauded their efforts towards renewable energy in more visible and measurable ways (i.e., through stock) they would all lean in to the new options even more fully. Is BP considered a leader in the charge? Are they breaking new ground in important ways? I haven’t heard any of this - so it’s interesting. 🤔
Great perspective.