A new study that mapped the portfolios of the world’s 250 biggest oil and gas companies found their deployment of renewable energy is paltry: they’re responsible for just 1.42% of the global renewable energy capacity in operation.
Despite announcing ambitious plans to embrace renewables, a mere 0.1% of the primary energy they produce comes from renewables, the study found.
“Fossil fuel companies are maintaining their political license and legitimacy to continue influencing climate and energy policies around the world, by claiming they are part of the solution to the climate crisis,” lead author Marcel Llavero Pasquina, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, told Mongabay by video call.
The numbers clearly show they are not, Pasquina added.
Among the 250 companies the researchers looked at were French giant TotalEnergies, Italy’s Eni, U.K.-based BP and Shell, and U.S. giants Exxon and Chevron. They tracked the major solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal projects in which these companies have a stake, either directly or through subsidiaries or acquisitions.
The analysis showed that nearly 70% of the small portion of global renewable energy capacity owned by fossil fuel companies is located in Europe, the U.S., India and Brazil. Among the companies, TotalEnergies has the most installed renewable capacity, around 14.6 gigawatts.
“Effectively, American oil and gas companies have no renewable assets,” Pasquina said.
Just 1.5% of the global renewable energy capacity is located in Africa, he added. Of this nearly 70 GW of energy capacity, fossil fuel companies have a stake in only 2.8%. Most of this small share is owned by foreign companies like Mitsui from Japan (409 megawatts) and TotalEnergies (374 MW). Only one African oil and gas major, Algeria-headquartered Sonatrach, has any operating renewable projects.
The renewable energy capacity installed in Africa by oil and gas majors is concentrated in South Africa (527 MW), Nigeria (375 MW) and Morocco (195 MW).
“The fossil fuel industry has already shown its true colours when it comes to the energy transition,” Mohamed Adow, director of Nairobi-based energy and climate think tank Power Shift Africa, told Mongabay by email. “At every step, they have delayed, distracted, and when they can, outright blocked progress towards clean energy.”
Adow also criticized oil and gas companies for pushing natural gas as a “bridge fuel” in Africa. Natural gas is the major source of electricity in African countries, and has been promoted by some African governments and the fossil fuel lobby as a “cleaner fuel.” But research has shown that its production emits significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
The oil and gas companies “spend millions of dollars to lobby governments to slow the shift away from climate-heating coal, oil, and gas.” Adow said. “Allowing them to lead the energy transition would be like getting an arsonist to run the fire brigade.”
Banner image: A wind farm in Altamont, California. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
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