2 weeks Ago By Irina Slav
Exxon’s chief executive has warned president-elect Donald Trump it would be a bad idea to leave the Paris Agreement on climate change, saying it would create uncertainty for the business world. “I don’t think the stops and starts are the right thing for businesses,” Darren Woods the Wall Street Journal in an interview. “It is extremely inefficient.
It creates a lot of uncertainty.” If Trump pulls the U.S.
out of the emissions accord, businesses would likely suffer because it is counterproductive for them “to have the pendulum swing back and forth as administrations change.” Trump pulled the U.S.
out of the Paris Agreement during his first term in keeping with his stance that climate change is not the catastrophic existential threat it is being made out to be. There appears to be a general agreement that he would try to do the same during this term as well. Exxon, however, has staked billions on the energy transition, especially in the carbon capture segment.
Last year, the company paid $5 billion for Denbury Resources, a carbon dioxide pipeline network operator. Besides that acquisition, Exxon has also recently signed three more deals for carbon capture and storage, one with CF Industries, one with industrial gas makers Linde, and one with steelmaker Nucor. Earlier this year Exxon also said it had teamed up with Shell to develop carbon capture and storage solutions for Singapore.
Carbon capture and storage is the obvious choice for many oil producers who want to reduce their carbon footprint—or help others reduce theirs. Investment, however, needs to expand considerably under net-zero scenarios. With a view to all these investments already made, it really would be uncertainty-inducing if Trump lifts the Paris Agreement obligation for companies to reduce their emissions.
However, it does not mean he would ban them from reducing their emissions in any way they see fit, including through carbon capture. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com.
