Fossil fuel companies are involved in very few renewable energy projects, a new report reveals.
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Are the fossil fuel industries really part of a solution? How much do they contribute to the global renewable energy deployment? And how much of their energy comes from fossil or renewable sources?
These are the questions a new study, published in Nature Sustainability, attempts to answer.
Are fossil fuel companies really investing in renewable energy?
Renewable energy is the world’s biggest generator of electricity. Some fossil fuel companies have invested in renewable energy assets, but this study assessed the extent of their backing.
The researchers analysed data from the Global Energy Monitor, looking at the world’s 250 largest oil and gas producers. These companies collectively are responsible for 88 per cent of global hydrocarbon output. The researchers also identified unique wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal projects which these companies have some sort of stake in.
The analysis reveals that only a fifth of these companies have a renewable energy project in operation. Renewable energy represented only 0.1 per cent of primary energy extraction. This contradicts many of these companies’ climate commitments, as many have set greenhouse gas reduction targets and agreed to cut down operations.
How does Europe compare?
The data is stratified by region. While none of the major North American fossil fuel companies had renewable energy assets, in Europe 1.8 per cent of renewable assets were owned by fossil fuel companies.
The study provided data for some of the continent’s major fossil fuel companies. TotalEnergies, the company with the most renewable assets, had only 1.5 per cent of total energy production coming from renewable sources. BP and Shell’s renewable investments made up only 0.4 per cent and 0.35 per cent respectively of total energy extracted. (BP previously walked back on its renewable targets).
Interestingly, a majority of the companies’ investments were not located in the European continent. 32 per cent of renewable assets were in Europe, another 32 per cent were in North America, and 32 per cent were located in South Asia.
‘The solution to the energy transition should not include fossil fuel companies’
There is no regulation that forces fossil fuel companies to invest in renewable energy, notes first author Marcel Llavero-Pasquina, a postdoctoral research associate at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
However, many have jumped on the bandwagon of investing in renewable energy, which Llavero-Pasquina sees as a clever marketing ploy. He emphasises that the solution to the energy transition should not include fossil fuel companies, but universities, governments and other public institutions.
“They [fossil fuel companies] are building these renewable assets tokenistically to be able to address this narrative that they care for climate change and that they are a necessary ally in the energy transition,” he says. “But the numbers reveal that it's mostly talk.”
