Quentin Parker

The View | Oil giants must wake up to the urgency of climate change, or they will be forced to

Oil companies’ record takings for 2022 give them a chance to pivot faster away from fossil fuels to renewables. At a time when public opinion and political pressure are turning against them, they must seize that opportunity

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Activists from Greenpeace set up a mock petrol station price board displaying Shell’s net profit for 2022 as they demonstrate outside the company’s headquarters in London on February 2. Oil companies should use their financial clout to accelerate the transition towards renewable energy. Photo: AFP

Quentin Parker

Published: 9:30pm, 23 Feb 2023Updated: 4:12am, 24 Feb 2023

Against the backdrop of the vicious war in Ukraine, the terrible earthquake in Turkey and Syria, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Western cost-of-living and energy crises, oil companies have been posting their annual profit reports for 2022.

It makes for arguably obscene reading. Shell and BP alone have just reported profits of US$40 billion – more than double the previous year’s profits – and a record US$28 billion, respectively. The world’s five largest oil majors alone amassed more than US$150 billion in profits last year.

But this is not all these companies announced. They will continue to invest heavily in more oil and gas fields from exploration, drilling and extraction in the next 10 years with all the attendant environmental impacts while at the same time not reducing their carbon emissions by as much as previously planned.

In a sane world, this would be like allowing them to throw kerosene on your house when it is already burning down and could be saved. The constant drip-feed of climate extremes and severe weather events around the world continue unabated.

People around the world cannot help but notice as more of us are being directly affected in multiple ways. They are taking action, regardless of what their politicians and lawmakers are doing.

Groups such as Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion, both headquartered in the UK, are good examples of non-violent direct action, gaining legions of followers and attention globally. It is an irony that both Shell and BP also have their global headquarters in London.