Home ›› 11 Feb 2021 ›› World Biz
Oil giant Shell has said it wants net-zero emissions both for itself and from products used by its customers by 2050.
It has boosted targets to reduce the net amount of carbon dioxide that ends up in the atmosphere.
The company also said that its oil production, which peaked in 2019, will be gradually reduced.
Last week, Shell reported a huge loss after the Covid pandemic caused a slump in oil demand.
Shell wants to expand its biofuels, hydrogen and hydropower businesses as it comes under increasing pressure from investors and creditors.
Chief executive Ben van Beurden said that the oil giant's aim was for its energy products to be predominantly low and no-carbon.
It will use its existing refineries to start to produce biofuels, but it will also use them to produce hydrogen.
van Beurden said that the "growth potential is huge" in hydrogen, and Shell is aiming for a double-digit share of global hydrogen sales.
Oil investments
It wants to boost hydrogen sales on forecourts should demand for hydrogen-fuelled cars take off, and is also interested in the possible market for hydrogen-powered home heating.
Shell wants to increase the number of its electric vehicle charging points from 60,000 to 500,000 by 2025, and double renewable electricity production to 550 terawatt-hours per year by 2030.
The company will also continue to sell more-polluting energy products such as jet fuel and diesel but plans to offset both its own and customer emissions through carbon capture and storage and so-called "nature-based" solutions such as reforestation.
Spending will remain focused on oil and gas in the near future, with $2bn to $3bn per year on renewables and low-carbon parts of the business, and $8bn per year on oil and gas in the near term.
(BBC)
