Oil companies need “a seat at the table” for net zero

Governments may soon find that the scale of the decarbonization challenge leaves them no choice but to work with oil and gas companies, argues Paul BeijerHead of GR-IQ.

DOUGLAS, Isle of Man, July 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Paul Beijer speaking at the Conversations in the climate podcasthosted by United Renewables and London Business School.

“Their ability to do big projects is what governments are asking for now,” Beijer says, pointing to the infrastructure challenge that the “systemic transition” to net-zero poses. “It’s not enough to play around with a subsidy level…I see [that governments will] take central control and all of a sudden there are these big companies at the table that know how to do big projects. Because they have the know-how.”

Beijer, who served as vice president of government relations at oil company Shell until 2019, also pointed to the value of these companies’ legacy assets and large balance sheets to fund investments. Shell has a market cap of $185 billion at press time.

Honesty questioned by Big Oil

Christopher CaldwellCEO of United Renewables and host of the Discussions on climate episode that Beijer stars in this week dismissed the idea, asking, “Isn’t it like asking Philip Morris how to quit smoking?”

Fossil fuel companies have been widely criticized for resisting action on climate change lobbying, Funding climate denial and spreading disinformation. Public attempts at rebranding by oil companies – like BP’s “Beyond Petroleum” campaign – have been largely dismissed as a failure.

But this time it’s different for fossil fuel companies, Beijer argues, because “as long as you believe there’s an irreversible trend toward renewable energy … you realize that if you hold on to your guns, you’re dealing with an existential crisis.” .”

Use of existing infrastructure

Building a hydrogen grid to power clean industries was a use case discussed by Caldwell and Beijer. A209 IEA report recognized…