Back in your Shell

Posted by Tom

Every day I get Jon Snow’s Snowmail, which is a great daily digest of the news. Today, he comments on Shell’s withdraw from building a key windfarm. As he rightly says, in a week where they’ve posted huge profits, it’s a great shame to see Oil remaining at the top of these firm’s agenda.

When visiting Silicon Valley recently, as well as in general discussions with financiers and VCs, I’ve been impressed by the speed and quantities that are being poured into Cleantech and Renewables. Are these big firms missing a trick or are they adapting quickly enough to capture the new wave?

Here were Jon’s comments:

“First off as things stand, where now for the government’s green agenda? The giant oil company Shell has pulled out a flagship British scheme, destined to become the world’s biggest offshore wind farm.

The multinational said it was selling its interest in ‘The London Array’ project, with 341 turbines in the Thames Estuary, capable of generating enough energy to power a quarter of London’s homes?

Shell’s decision to get out of the project has raised doubts about whether it can proceed as planned. Why has Shell jumped ship? Is it simply a case of Shell switching their investment out of wind power because old-fashioned and dirtier oil is more lucrative?

Well of course it is in the short -term, but wasn’t it the oil giants who were claiming they were trying to escape just that short-termism? And all this in the week when the likes of Shell are posting colossal profit, no wonder the Environment Secretary Hilary Benn called it “very disappointing”.”