Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Jul 05, 2025

Oil companies are gambling the climate on a future that hasn’t yet been invented

Oil companies are gambling the climate on a future that hasn’t yet been invented

How seriously should we take the pledges of oil and gas giants such as BP and Shell to reach net-zero emissions by 2050? Such promises are important not only for the companies' public perception, but for the confidence of their largest investors, such as pension funds.

A new report from Oxfam, that was published on 3 August, has cast serious doubts on the feasibility of the companies methods.

Examining the pledges of four major energy companies – BP, Shell, TotalEnergies and Eni – the paper argues that each of their strategies to reach net zero is dangerously over-reliant on carbon offsets. Instead of making fundamental changes to their business models and reducing their own emissions, they depend on planting huge numbers of trees to absorb and store the CO2 which is the main driver of anthropogenic climate change.

The report says this simply won’t work. There isn’t enough land on Earth for the offsets to be feasible: “it is mathematically impossible to plant enough trees to meet the combined net zero targets announced by governments and corporations”. This issue is compounded by the fact that using vast amounts of land for trees would create higher levels of poverty and hunger in low-income countries, because it would limit the land that could be used for agriculture.

All four energy companies have responded to the report, acknowledging its concerns but pointing out that their future plans do not exclusively involve carbon offsets. Instead, their absolute emissions can be reduced, they say, by shifting to renewable energies, using low-carbon fuels, and improving operational efficiency. Carbon capture technology also promises a way of removing CO2 from the atmosphere without using large swathes of land.

But Aditi Sen, the climate policy lead at Oxfam and co-author of the report, says net-zero plans must be “anchored in science-based targets”, and it is not clear how absolute emissions will be reduced by technologies that have yet to be deployed or developed. Companies' own reports on sustainability are characterised, she says, by “a lot of data gaps... a lot of assumptions... a lot of people that are banking on technologies that are still not there”.

Although there are promising carbon capture alternatives to the traditional methods, these have a long way to go. Simon Nicholson, co-director of the Institute of Carbon Removal Law and Policy, says that “companies investing today in technological carbon removal are doing us all a great service by potentially speeding up research and development activities. But investments today in research and development shouldn't count towards net-zero goals tomorrow, because the dreams of carbon removal may never come to pass.”

Worse still is the fact that the report focuses only on companies which do have a plan. According to Sen, they have all “taken some steps in recognition of the urgency of climate change”, while most others “have actually not made any climate plans”.

As noted in the report itself, “Some of the biggest players in the sector, from state-owned Saudi Aramco to ExxonMobil and Chevron, have so far declined to set any targets, effectively burying their heads in the sand, and abdicating their climate responsibility.”

Sen says that some companies also continue to “spread disinformation” about the climate crisis and their response to it.

Part of the problem is the idea of net zero itself, which Sen calls an “amorphous term” which is applied loosely and allows major companies to get away with “business as usual”. Robust government intervention is, she says, the “critical lever for getting these companies to transform at a much more rapid pace”. Without it, there will soon be no business to do at all.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Political Dispute Escalates Between Trump and Musk
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
US Senate Votes to Remove AI Regulation Moratorium from Domestic Policy Bill
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
Jury Deliberations in Diddy Trial Yield Partial Verdict in Serious Criminal Charges
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
King Charles Plans Significant Role for Prince Harry in Coronation
Two Chinese Nationals Arrested for Espionage Activities Against U.S. Navy
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
Trump Administration Considers Withdrawal of Funding for Hospitals Providing Gender Treatment to Minors
Texas Enacts Law Allowing Gold and Silver Transactions
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
OpenAI Secures Multimillion-Dollar AI Contracts with Pentagon, India, and Grab
×