Oil and Gas Giants Will Gather to Set Emission Target Plans

Oil and gas giants are getting ready to hold annual shareholder meetings in the upcoming weeks. The world’s largest corporate emitters are under pressure to set short, medium, and long-term emission targets. Their targets should be consistent with the Paris Agreement.

Nearly 200 countries have signed landmark climate agreements. However, no oil and gas company has met Paris’s consistent emission reduction targets or investment levels in five years. The deal is widely regarded as essential to avoid an irreversible climate crisis.

Norwegian company Equinor and American oil producer ConocoPhillips will hold their annual shareholder summits on Tuesday. The annual general meeting of BP and the US refinery Phillips 66 will be held on Wednesday. The US oil giant Chevron will hold its annual public meeting on May 26.

First, an Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell will present its zero-net transition plan to its shareholders on May 18. People inside and outside the energy industry increasingly worry about the industry’s stubborn dependence on fossil fuels.

How Shell Considers Developing Its “energy Transition Strategy” Plan?

At the beginning of this year, Shell published its “Energy Transition Strategy.” It frameworks the company’s plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The plan’s goal is to reduce net carbon emissions by 6% to 8% by 2023 compared to 2016 levels. Moreover, by 2030, the target will jump to 20%, by 2035 to 45%, and by 2050 to 100%.

Shell has not promised to achieve the same absolute emission target as Paris by 2030. Climate activists and investors have not ignored this omission.

There have been four unsuccessful attempts to encourage investors to vote on its climate resolutions at Shell’s annual general meeting. Thus, even more voters and supporters are needed to increase Shell’s actions towards the net-zero emission plan.

In 2016, only 2.7% of investors supported the ‘Follow This’ climate initiative at Shell’s annual shareholder meeting. However, by 2020, this number has climbed to 14.4%.

Shell has stated that it will release a strategic update every three years until 2050. Starting from 2022, Shell will also conduct an advisory vote on the progress of its plans and goals every year.