Archives

Shell - Terra Infirma


Browse All

6 April 2009

What planet is the energy industry on?

I've written a couple of posts recently about the retail and automotive industries seeing green as the way out of the recession, but the rather exceptional exception to this movement is the energy industry with BP, Shell and Centrica all divesting themselves of renewables interests in recent months.

What on earth are they thinking?

Obama has made major green energy pledges, the UK Government has a huge raft of low carbon legislation coming on board and the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen this year make the Kyoto protocol conferences look like a vicar's tea party. Even though the G20 meeting in London largely steered clear of climate change, it did get some of the less enthusiastic nations to agree to take part in Copenhagen.

Low carbon pledges mean investment in, and incentives for, low carbon technology. So why on earth is Big Oil going back to, erm, oil?

It has been said that when the transistor came along it was ignored by the then dominant vacuum tube (valve) industry and, as a result, none of those companies is still in business. Big Oil should take note - they could end up as the fossilised fuel industry.

Tags: , , , , ,

Posted by Gareth Kane no responses

25 June 2007

9 out of 10 consumers don't believe your green claims

A survey by Consumers International last week made grim reading for those companies trying to prove their green credentials - only 10% of consumers believe industrialists when it comes to climate change, compared to 50% who trust green campaign groups and 60% who trust scientists.

Certainly many of the more radical green campaigners seem to be setting the pace. George Monbiot has spent many column inches criticising biofuels on the grounds they will compete with food production, and the next thing we see is 75,000 Mexicans on the streets protesting that they can't afford tortillas because US bioethanol production is driving up the price of vegetable oil.

Business needs get its voice back in regard to this debate, but the only way it can do this is to make sure what it says is backed up by what it does. For example, Shell organised a recent environmental summit, but ended up being publicly lambasted by most of the big environmental groups for boasting about their relatively modest green projects while quietly expanding their "carbon-intensive tar sands operations in Canada" and "failing to put out its illegal flares in Nigeria". Shell tried to talk the talk and ended up with egg on its face - they now need to walk the walk.

Tags: , , ,

Posted by Gareth Kane 2 responses

Free monthly bulletin:

By Gareth Kane

Everything you need to know to integrate sustainability into the DNA of your business.

Submit button

By Gareth Kane

A highly accessible, practical guide to those who want to introduce sustainability into their business or organization quickly and effectively.

Submit button

Learn how to help your business go green from the comfort of your desk..

View events