Oil Industry Under Pressure To Respond To Climate Change

The oil industry, under mounting pressure from environmental activists to react more quickly to counter climate change, has begun to adapt its strategy but is struggling to convince critics it is doing enough

Paris, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Apr, 2019 ):The oil industry, under mounting pressure from environmental activists to react more quickly to counter climate change, has begun to adapt its strategy but is struggling to convince critics it is doing enough.

Last week activists, responding to a call from the Extinction Rebellion group, laid siege to Shell's London headquarters whose windows were smashed.

Several days later hundreds of activists blocked several symbolic sites in France, including the headquarters of oil giant Total.

"They are mastodons whose business model is based on fossil fuels and which don't want to shift one iota because up until now they've made money that way," said Cecile Marchand, who heads up climate activities of the French branch of the Friends of the Earth network of environmental protection groups.

"The activities of these multinationals are not at all regulated today, and they should be if we are to be serious about the idea of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees" Celsius, she added, referring to the goal laid out in the 2015 Paris climate deal.

The pressure isn't only coming from environmental activists.

"Investment funds are now requiring oil and gas companies to explain how climate change might affect a company's value," said David Elmes, a professor at Warwick Business School.

"This is driving some companies to be much more transparent about the emissions they cause and their plans to reduce them," he added.