Reading uni cuts fossil fuel investments by more than half

By Alex Seabrook Local Democracy Reporter: 6th November 2019

THE University of Reading (UoR) has cut its investment in fossil fuels by more than half in the past year – after pressure from students.

The university’s £63million endowment fund now has £729,575 invested in Royal Dutch Shell.

That’s according to financial statements recently published, which show what the fund is invested in as of July 31.

Last year, the university had £2,628,305 in fossil fuels, as of July 31, 2018, according to the previous statements. read more

Shell has given £6m to fund the work of the university’s magnetic resonance research group amid a concerted campaign by students and staff to persuade the university to sever its links with extractive industries.

Cambridge University has accepted a multimillion-pound donation from Shell to fund a team researching oil extraction technology, even as it publicly positions itself as part of the transition to a sustainable future.

Shell has given £6m to fund the work of the university’s magnetic resonance research group amid a concerted campaign by students and staff to persuade the university to sever its links with extractive industries.

Sinead Lynch, the chair of Shell UK, has been invited to join the panel at a policy-making workshop on Monday. Environmental campaigners at Cambridge have raised questions about potential links between the donation and the invitation. read more

Financial Times: Energy majors eye swifter shift to green

David Sheppard, Energy Editor

Extracts

This week brings quarterly results from the world’s biggest energy companies. Some will beat expectations, some will miss, and after a brief flurry of algo-driven share price adjustment your average investor will carry on hating oil stocks, regardless.

John Browne, the former BP chief, said last week that it felt like the energy transition was “collapsing in time”, with changes towards cleaner energy that were once expected to take decades now being demanded by the public — and increasingly investors — within years. read more

20 October 2019: The Sunday Times

What seemed like the perfect route to a low-carbon world now looks like a risky bet, writes John Collingridge

What do the former Redcar steelworks on Teesside, a university in the Midlands and forests in the Scottish Highlands have in common? Answer: Big Oil is praying they hold the key to its future.

Strikes by schoolchildren, the rise of “flight-shaming” and an exodus of investors have left the energy industry reeling. Oil giants’ multibillion-pound bet — that gas will power the global economy into a low-carbon future — now looks risky.

As the mood changes, Big Oil is making increasingly ambitious — and desperate — attempts to clean itself up and reduce or trap carbon emissions. For giants including Shell, Total and BP, that means carbon capture and storage (CCS) at Redcar, promoting hydrogen as an alternative fuel, such as a pilot at Keele University — and even planting forests in Scotland. read more

Can you strike a blow against climate change by getting rid of your oil company stocks — and can you do it without losing money? The idea is not just for activists anymore. Norway took a partial step in selling off oil and gas stocks in its massive $1 trillion wealth fund. And a growing number of investors who control trillions more are using the threat of divestment as a cudgel to force energy companies to adopt greener ways. Together these approaches are producing a notable disruption in the energy field. read more

Harry Dempsey in London

Shareholder initiatives, climate protests and government net zero targets are all piling pressure on Big Oil to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by shifting towards renewable energy. Critics have condemned the industry’s response as insufficient, with even the most progressive oil majors devoting only a fraction of their research and development expenditure to low carbon tech. Royal Dutch Shell, for example, has said it is investing about 10 per cent of its $1bn annual R&D budget on renewables and less than a quarter on what it defines as low-carbon initiatives such as hydrogen, and biofuels. read more

LONDON — Royal Dutch Shell’s chief executive took aim beyond the energy sector to call on leaders of other industries including aviation, shipping and steel to jointly draw up plans to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

Ben van Beurden also warned on Wednesday that energy companies that do not collaborate in the fight against climate under the 2015 Paris agreement risk going out of business.

“Climate change is the biggest challenge facing the energy industry, but the energy industry isn’t the biggest challenge for the world trying to tackle climate change,” van Beurden told the Oil & Money conference. read more

Brad Thompson Reporter: Oct 2, 2019

Shell has warned Western Australia’s environmental watchdog that billions of dollars of investment are at risk if it contributes to mixed messages on tackling greenhouse gas emissions.

The oil and gas giant urged the Environmental Protection Authority to hold fire on handing down new emissions guidelines for approving large-scale projects in the resources rich state.

Shell also rejected the notion that it was possible to introduce a policy requiring net zero offsets in the oil and gas industry. read more

Big Oil Fights For Its Life

Extracts from an article by Tsvetana Paraskova – Sep 30, 2019, 5:00 PM CDT

Just as Big Oil has returned to growing profits after the 2015-2016 price crash, the world’s largest oil companies are facing another formidable challenge amid growing calls from activists, shareholders, and institutional investors to start saving our planet.

The world’s largest oil firms already invest in green energy—including in wind, solar, biofuels, hydrogen, and electric vehicles (EVs) charging networks—but these alternatives are not their core business and will not be such for years, and probably decades, to come. read more

MP Pension’s board of directors pledged in 2018 to dump all shares in coal, tar sands and oil activities by the end of 2020, and excluded all coal and tar sands companies from its investments last year.

Dutch pension fund blacklists oil companies, including Shell

4 SEPTEMBER 2019 BY RACHEL FIXSEN

The Danish pension fund for academics, MP Pension, has blacklisted 10 of the world’s largest oil firms, a decision that will mean divesting DKK644m (€86m) of stocks.

In addition, the pension fund is considering the impact of divesting from bonds issued by oil firms.

The fund said it wanted to take responsibility for the green transition while securing long-term investment returns.

Anders Schelde, CIO of MP Pension, said: “We do not believe that this sector can deliver a return on a par with the rest of the market in the coming years. read more

Shell boss welcomes ‘mobilisation of society’ as oil protests intensify

by Mark Lammey 01/08/2019, 10:32 am

Shell’s chief executive said today that he welcomed the “mobilisation” of society in the crusade to meet global climate change targets.

But Ben van Beurden said he could not agree with some of the more extreme methods used by militant activists in their protests against energy companies’ activities.

Mr van Beurden said demonstrations must not damage property or jeopardise the people’s safety.

Fellow energy giant BP suffered disruption to its plans for a well in June when Greenpeace activists clambered onto a Transocean rig in Cromarty Firth, then pursued it across the North Sea for several days in their Arctic Sunrise ship. read more

Van Beurden told the New York Times in 2016 about how he had once come home to find one of his children crying inconsolably. He thought at first that it was because he was going out with his wife that evening, but he soon learned that she was upset because she had been learning about climate change at school.

By Joe Sandler Clarke: 19 June 2019

Ben van Beurden, the CEO of Shell, wants you to do your bit to solve climate change.

In early June, he told an audience of corporate bosses in London that we should eat fruit in season and recycle more.

“I have three daughters, they are all quite fashion conscious,” he explained. “I like to point out to them, having something new for every season four times a year is creating quite a significant ecological footprint, have you realised that? Because they are all about climate change.” read more

by Allister Thomas: 09/07/2019, 2:20 pm

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden has been unveiled as part of a global commission to help global progress on energy efficiency.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has unveiled the group, comprising of business executives, thought leaders and government ministers.

The IEA said energy efficiency will play a “central role” in reaching climate goals, potentially accounting for more than 40% of the necessary emissions cuts globally.

It could meanwhile save the world more than half a trillion US dollars in lower energy bills through 2040. read more

As Dutch journalist Jelmer Mommers revealed last year, Shell has known about the climate crisis for nearly four decades and its own considerable role in causing it.

THE FIRST THREE SLIDES of climate scientist Peter Kalmus’s plenary speech to Shell’s Powering Progress Together conference were intended to gauge audience reactions. First, he would have asked attendees if they are “concerned about climate breakdown.” Then, to raise their hands if they are “EXTREMELY CONCERNED” about it. In the third slide, Kalmus would have asked panel-goers to raise their hands if they agreed with a simple statement: “Fossil fuel causes harm.”

He never got the chance. Last Wednesday, the day before he was scheduled to appear, Kalmus was disinvited from what the oil giant billed as “an action-oriented day of dialogue focused on accelerating the energy transition.” For those curious about what spooked them, The Intercept is publishing Kalmus’s contraband slideshow. read more

George Monbiot: Wed 26 Jun 2019

Don’t buy the greenwash. Shell’s initiatives, which have won over many conservation groups, are dwarfed by its investment in oil and gas

It is hard to believe it needs stating, but it does. The oil industry is not your friend. Whatever it might say about its ethical credentials, while it continues to invest in fossil fuels, it accelerates climate breakdown and the death of the habitable planet. You would think this point was obvious to everyone. But over the past few weeks, I have spoken to dozens of environmentalists who appear to believe that Shell is on their side. read more

Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent: Thu 20 Jun 2019 07.00 BST

The UK’s largest energy companies have withheld support for a legally binding target to reduce the EU’s emissions to net zero by 2050, even while publicly backing the plans. Although BP and Shell have both voiced public support for the Paris commitments, neither backed the EU’s plans for a net zero carbon target by 2050 in their response to an official consultation. The companies’ decision to withhold support for the target has reignited criticism that major polluters are “greenwashing”… read more