Shell to renewables: I don't want to see you anymore. Don't call me, don't text me.

The Greenwash Brigade

In a stunning yet not entirely unexpected move, Royal Dutch Shell PLC recently announced it will withdraw its support from any future investment in renewable energy such as wind, solar and hydrogen. Rather, it will set its sights on oil, gas and second generation biofuels and *maybe *some Canadian tar sands investments.

Too bad no one warned their marketing folks who got whacked by UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (and on this blog) last year for illustrating flowers emerging from a Shell refinery stack, a predecessor to its Clearing the Air Campaign.

Citing renewables’ struggle “to compete with the other investment opportunities we have in our portfolio,” it is obvious that the world’s second largest non-state controlled oil company is full of biofuel cowpie like all the other pretty green oil companies in overstating its commitment to a sustainable energy future.

In 2008 it had only invested $1.7 billion of its overall $32 billion investments in renewables anyhow.

This is where shareholders need to get off their collective derriere and act to force Shell, as well as other companies they invest in, to act with courage, foresight and intelligence. In reading comments in the UK from this story, one twenty-something said it best:

“So primitive, so idiotic, so painful to watch.”

March 27, 2009 by Heidi Siegelbaum
5 comments

tags: renewable energy Shell

Comments (5)

David Yeend | Respond
March 30, 2009 10:42 AM PT

Wow. Thanks for sharing. I'm guilty of falling for BP's "green" message - I prefer it. But I haven't looked too closely to see how real their green position is. Ah, marketing.

Harold Satterlee | Respond
March 30, 2009 1:01 PM PT

Shell, as quoted in this article, like so many other oil advocates always go back to the statement that the "free market chooses oil", not alternatives. This is not true. Hundreds of Billions, maybe even over a trillion dollars a year are spent from the federal government to get oil to the market, supporting activities that bring us a lot of our oil, if they were not done, we would not have that oil. The short list, aircraft carrier battle groups patrolling Middle East oil shipping lanes, military bases in oil countries, troops guarding oil pipelines, wars, police actions, foreign aid to oil countries, foreign policy with oil countries, ports and canals, maritime support, environmental cleanups, subsidies for exploration,...... All those things get paid by what comes out of my paycheck. And don't forget about the trade deficit caused by buying all that imported oil. If the oil companies had to do build and operate their own navies, hire their own armies, and all that other infrastructure and foreign policy stuff, then they would have to charge us for it at the pump.

Aternatives don't have all those military and foreign relations costs. If all those costs for oil were charged at the pump, then we would see a fair market fight between oil and alternatives.

People calling for alternatives call for new taxes on oil to even things up. We don't need to do more taxes. Just take the EXISTING taxes we already pay out of the income tax, and MOVE those from paychecks over to the pump and there it is, a fair market for alternatives. And then people could give themselves a tax cut, simply by using less gas.

If $500 billion is spent per year on oil out of the income tax, and we have 200 million income tax payers, this plan would take $2500 a year off of the income tax.

JP | Respond
March 31, 2009 8:06 AM PT

Actually, a lot less of your federal income tax money goes to the oil industry than you may think. Most of it goes back to the Federal Reserve bankers. Oil production is much older than Federal Income Tax. The really sad, sick part is that the government investment for oil production is largely put on the books as "National Debt"... further bankrupting our nation while your hard-earned tax money merely goes into the pockets of the corporate ruling elite, without making the tiniest scratch in the national deficit. Sad huh? Makes me want to grab torches and pitchforks!

Harold Satterlee: responding to JP | Respond
March 31, 2009 10:13 AM PT

Read the first paragraph again. This is not money that is given to oil companies. This is money that is spent on military and foreign policy that makes it possible for oil companies to import oil.

Jim | Respond
April 6, 2009 2:52 PM PT

Let's see how green you are when N Korea points a ICBM at you. Hmmmmm, you can throw some pretty green flowers at them!

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Our hand-picked environmental professionals, each part of the Public Insight Network, are on the hunt for "greenwash" as they examine eco-friendly claims by companies, governments and other groups. They ask tough questions about the mainstreaming of green, from the perspectives of people in the trenches who are focused on these issues 24/7.

Jim Nicolow is a nationally recognized expert on sustainable design and leads the sustainability initiative for Lord, Aeck & Sargent, overseeing the incorporation of sustainable design strategies and features into the firm’s design projects. He is a LEED® Accredited Professional with extensive knowledge of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system.

Janne K. Flisrand has worked as an affordable housing and urban planning research consultant for five years, primarily supporting local non-profits. Her focus is on transit, transit-oriented design, affordable housing, and sustainability. Currently, she’s the program coordinator for Minnesota Green Communities, a program promoting affordable, healthy, sustainably built housing throughout Minnesota.

Dennis Markatos-Soriano recently completed a Master's in Public Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. He is now launching Sustainable Energy Transition (SET) to help individuals and institutions move from dependence on oil and gas to an efficient use of renewables. Previously, he co-founded SURGE (Students United for a Responsible Global Environment), which aims to bring young progressives together across issues of environmental and social justice throughout North Carolina and beyond. In the summer of 2006, he helped to start a small green company, Greenway Pedicabs, to provide a greenhouse gas-free transportation option for people in the Triangle of North Carolina.

Heidi Siegelbaum is a principal with Calyx Sustainable Tourism and works primarily on advancing sustainable tourism practices. She also specializes in science translation, cross-border indicators with Canada, cross-disciplinary planning and environmental technical assistance to businesses. Previously, she was in-house legal counsel for EPA for industrial chemicals and biotechnology and the senior performance measure analyst with the Washington State Department of Ecology. She is on the technical advisory committee of the Seattle Culinary Academy and a long standing member of the Chefs Collaborative.

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