LONDON – The oil company Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday unveiled details of its short- and long-term plans to transition to cleaner energy, saying its oil production and total carbon emissions have already peaked.
The announcement comes at a time when the oil and gas industry is under immense pressure to dramatically accelerate its plans to move away from fossil fuels amid deep concern about the effects of the climate emergency.
Shell said it aims to reduce net carbon emissions by between 6% and 8% by 2023 compared to 2016 levels. The target jumps to 20% by 2030, 45% by 2035 and 100% by 2050.
The company had previously committed to reducing its net carbon emissions by at least 3% by 2022, 30% by 2035 and 65% by 2050, using 2016 as a basic measure.
“Our accelerated strategy will reduce carbon emissions and add value to our shareholders, our customers and society at large,” said Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell.
“We need to offer our customers the products and services they want and need – products that have the least impact on the environment. At the same time, we will use our strengths to build on our competitive portfolio as we make the transition to being a network. zero-emission business in step with society. “
Shell said it expected its total carbon emissions to peak in 2018 at 1.7 gigabytes per year and confirmed that its total oil production peaked in 2019.
Shell shares fell more than 1.1% during morning trading.
The United Nations has recognized climate change as the “defining problem of our time”, warning of the impact of all, from changing weather patterns to rising sea levels, with an unprecedented global scale and scale.
Meanwhile, Big Oil has been slow to significantly address the climate crisis.