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LINK How (and why) Big Oil just had a very bad day

This is a good thing!

The oil and gas industry is generally not accustomed to having bad days. On the contrary, Big Oil's business model is built on persistent successes in everything from energy policy to finance to shaping the governments of whole countries.

Yesterday, however, as Politico noted, the industry had an unusually bad day.

The oil industry, long a political heavyweight in Washington, suffered a series of extraordinary blows on Wednesday after shareholders, customers and the courts turned on the industry out of concern over climate change.

I hope you saw Rachel's coverage of this last night, because Big Oil's future is going to matter to all of us, and yesterday was a day in which the industry's future appeared to shift direction.

It started in a courtroom in The Hague, where a judge ordered Royal Dutch Shell -- the biggest oil company in the world outside of China -- to slash its greenhouse gas emission by 45% by the end of the decade. NBC News' report added, "The climate lawsuit, which was filed by seven groups including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth Netherlands, marks a first in which environmentalists have turned to the courts to try to force a major energy firm to change strategy."

Soon after, the public learned that a majority of Chevron shareholders, ignoring the company's corporate board, also ordered the oil giant to radically reduce its carbon emissions.

And in case that weren't quite enough, just hours later, in what NPR described as an "astonishing" development, ExxonMobil saw some of its shareholders dump some of the company's board of directors and elect climate-friendly successors.

I can appreciate the fact that for many news consumers, the phrase "corporate shareholders meeting" is probably a cue to move on to some other story, but the developments we saw yesterday may very well help push Big Oil in a new direction.

Oh, and did I mention that Ford's F-150 Lightning electric pickup now has tens of thousands of pre-orders? This isn't exactly the sort of news oil companies want to see, either.

At a certain level, there's arguably an inevitability to days like yesterday. The seriousness of the climate crisis is such that Big Oil is facing, and will continue to face, enormous pressure to change into something different. Our collective future requires it.

But it's nevertheless amazing to see the changes begin in earnest in rapid succession.

HippieChick58 9 May 27
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6 comments

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1

im for cutting all gas and oil subsidies ....they never should have gotten a penny of our tax dollars

1

As a general rule businesses are very often short-sighted. Taking a longer view, no matter how ethical, is seen as being a gamble. The retro VW Beetle almost did not happen but someone decided to take a chance and we all know the outcome with the success of the retro auto market. Old dinosaur businesses need to go extinct. The planet cannot bear their outmoded, greed based, type of business dealings.
I did hear the report and, of course, the oil company is appealing. More good money after bad. Again an outmoded way of thinking as the money needed for an appeal could be better spent on creating a new business model. Working for a large accounting firm it always amazed me how much money rich people would spend to save a little on their taxes.

1

Big corporate has always operated at the expense of everyone and everything. What made it all doable was everyone getting a little something. The brutally poor being at the bottom and mostly out of sight just did not matter. It has many names but I like plantation mentality the best.
The courts, legislation and law only enter the picture when real harm becomes so obvious the threat can not be ignored. Typically because it begins to impact those higher up the food chain.
I can hear the right now. My twin will cry because food prices will go up because trucking produce and commodities will cost way more. I have 2 friends whose lively hood involved trucking (they are retired now) and one thinks it's perfectly okay to run over BLM protesters blocking a street. (whole 'nuther rant)
The shareholders do not want another crisis and are finally realizing the issue can not be ignored.
I am very happy the shift is occurring it's just my jaded view of how we allowed the Movement Conservatives to destroy what the New Deal created - a shining city on a hill.
It all began here:
Oil City is a city in Venango County, Pennsylvania known for its prominence in the initial exploration and development of the petroleum industry. It is located at a bend in the Allegheny River at the mouth of Oil Creek. Initial settlement of Oil City was sporadic, and tied to the iron industry. After the first oil wells were drilled in 1861, it became central to the petroleum industry while hosting headquarters for the Pennzoil, Quaker State, and Wolf's Head motor oil companies. Texas soon followed and America was off to the races.

2

This gives me hope!

3

And, I hope that they have many more -- until they get smart enough to recognize that they are ENERGY companies, not just oil.

3

still a long way to go but this is heartening!

they are starting to invest in renewable energy or so I read
we need to cut all subsidies

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