Shell Announces Major Pivot To Green Energy

The oil companies will always make money—even if it isn’t from oil.  Just like the cigarette companies are moving into the growing and selling of marijuana, the oil companies are changing along with the changing “tastes” of the American public.

“Royal Dutch Shell revealed an ambitious plan to double its investments in green energy in what appears to be the next phase in the oil giant’s efforts to decarbonize.

Shell will boost its expenditures on low-carbon energy to $4 billion a year — a staggering increase from its commitment to spend $1-$2 billion annually on green energy within the next two years. The Netherlands-based company has a total budget of $25 billion, the rest of which will still be spent on hydrocarbons.”

There are two ways to grow a company—internally by building your product base.  Or, by buying firms in other industries and other technologies.  Shell will do both—but as government closes down fossil fuel, expect Shell and other oil companies to buy up solar companies, wind turbine folks and even biomass technologies.  Then they will buy tech companies that specialize in energy savings and energy storage.

Successful companies change with the times.  Sears did not, and now they are history.

Shell Announces Major Pivot To Green Energy

Jason Hopkins | Energy Investigator, Daily Caller,  12/26/18

Royal Dutch Shell revealed an ambitious plan to double its investments in green energy in what appears to be the next phase in the oil giant’s efforts to decarbonize.

Shell will boost its expenditures on low-carbon energy to $4 billion a year — a staggering increase from its commitment to spend $1-$2 billion annually on green energy within the next two years. The Netherlands-based company has a total budget of $25 billion, the rest of which will still be spent on hydrocarbons.

“I would like my current business to be financially credible enough for not only the company, but shareholders, to want to double it and look at more,” Maarten Wetselaar, the integrated gas and new energies director for Shell, stated to the Guardian in a Tuesday report. Wetselaar indicated that if Shell sees enough return on its investments, the company will likely spend more on green energy development from 2020 and beyond.

Shell, under pressure from climate change activists, has made a number of environmentally-friendly commitments in recent years.

The oil and gas giant announced plans earlier in December to establish strict carbon emissions targets, and will incentivize senior executives to follow through on these targets by linking it to their pay.

“We will be systematically driving down our carbon footprint over time,” Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden stated to the media. “We all know the benefits of energy but there are associated effects that we have to manageShell is a pledged supporter of the Climate Leadership Council, a group that supports the implementation of a carbon tax to fight global warming and establish a new welfare system to offset higher energy costs. The Dutch oil company has increasingly involved itself in carbon pricing battles in the U.S., where the company has praised carbon tax bills introduced in Congress and has quietly held talks with environmental groups regarding a carbon tax.