PhotoBowing to pressure from shareholders and the Paris international climate accord, Royal Dutch Shell pledged on Tuesday to increase its investment in renewable fuels and to cut its carbon emissions in half by 2050. Shell and other big oil companies have moved only sporadically over the last decade toward greater production of wind and solar energy. While that sum is a large increase from Shell’s previous commitment, it is well below 10 percent of the oil giant’s total investment dollars. Still, Mr. van Beurden stressed that the pledge was just a start and that the company supported the goal of the Paris accord, which is to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. The growing global dependence on natural gas, as a replacement for coal, should help Shell meet its goals since it has made a big investment in producing and trading gas.

Source: New York Times November 28, 2017 21:34 UTC