This is a bitter observation. In the middle of COP 29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, the favorable wind which supported renewable energies seems to be turning. The large oil companies, which had indeed increased their promises of investment in solar and wind power, are completely changing their approach. Explanations.
Virtuous investments poorly rewarded
The New York Times notes for example that the company Exxon Mobil, which has adopted a very cautious attitude on green energies and preferred to concentrate on its core business: oil and gas. Its price has increased by 70% since the end of 2019. At the same time, a company such as BP, which has focused on solar charging technologies for electric cars, has seen the value of its share fall by 19%.
Our colleagues cite another very revealing piece of data. Thus, the median return on capital, a key measure of profitability, of major oil companies increased by 11% last year compared to -8% in 2020 during the pandemic, according to an analysis by S&P Global Commodity Insights. At the same time, that of large renewable energy companies was only 2%.
Conclusions to qualify
This information sounds like a wake-up call as the market increasingly appears to be encouraging the consumption of fossil fuels. However, scientists continue to repeat that each fraction of a degree of warming caused by these energy sources is likely to cause considerable damage to the survival of the human species. As always, there is a real contradiction between this gloomy outlook that awaits us and the calculations of investors who anticipate potential gains in the short term.
We can qualify this sad observation with this data recalled by the American media. In fact, according to the International Energy Agency, almost twice as much money is currently invested in clean energy as in fossil fuels.
As a reminder, this trend of oil companies focusing on renewable energy sources has been very present in recent years. For example, we told you about the Hywind Tampen offshore wind farm in Norway, which will open in 2022.
Expected to ultimately produce 94.6 MW, it supplies the Snorre and Gullfaks oil and gas fields. Enough to provide 35% of the electricity needs of the five platforms concerned. The Equinor company was therefore pleased with the fact that this “will reduce annual field emissions by around 200,000 tonnes of CO2, which is equivalent to the emissions of 100,000 vehicles”.
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