By Rowena Mason
Published: 8:07PM BST 24 Oct 2009
In a sign that some of the oil
majors, which are preparing to announce 60pc-70pc drop in net profits this
week, are becoming bolder in their opposition to international efforts to
reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80pc over the next four decades, a senior
executive who spoke to The Sunday Telegraph said there was currently a large
degree of wishful political thinking about the changes targeted by the global
summit.
"If you look at the
The move comes as analysts expect
Shell, which has cut hundreds of jobs in a company-wide restructuring this
quarter, to reveal net profits of approximately $2.5bn (£1.52bn), and BP to
unveil profits of $3.2bn.
The energy industry has been hit
hard by the recession, as demand has weakened and companies have been forced to
cut capital expenditure.
Energy companies have in recent
years made loud public professions of commitment to tackling climate change.
But disillusionment has begun to
build behind the scenes over concerns that more stringent targets at
Writing in The Daily Telegraph
last week, Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for the Environment and Climate
Change, made clear his commitment to ensuring there is a global deal in
December. "Lord Stern estimates that the long-term costs of failing to
control climate change could be between 5pc and 20pc of GDP," he said.
"Of course there are costs from acting too, but they are far less than the
costs of not acting."
The Conservatives are planning a energy green paper in the new year which will have a sharp
focus on renewables. Greg Barker, the shadow climate change secretary, said
Leading energy industry figures
speaking at last week's Oil & Money conference in
Several urged governments to
consider gas, rather than less reliable, more expensive renewables, because
this fossil fuel emits 50pc less carbon dioxide than coal when burnt.
John B Hess, chief executive of
the $20bn Hess Corporation, warned that the world "does not have the
scale,
time frame or economics" to devote to the complete eradication of carbon
emissions from sources of fuel within the next four decades.
Richard Guerrant, Exxon Mobil's
director for
Tony Hayward, chief executive of
BP, insisted that petrol would be the dominant transport fuel for years and
said cleaner gas-fired power stations should play the dominant role in helping
replacing dirty coal plants.
However, BP has been calling for
a floor on the price of carbon emissions permits across all energy sources,
rather than subsidies that see wind, hydro and solar projects favoured in the
"We do our fair share of
renewables but globally they will be too small to make a real dent in the
targets," Christof Rühl, chief economist for BP, said. "Two things I
would look for to come out of
Meanwhile, Abdalla Salem
El-Badri, secretary-general of the oil cartel OPEC, attacked alternative
energy. "Just wait for one catastrophe and that will be the end of
nuclear," he said. "And as far as I'm concerned, who really thinks
biofuels will really work in the long run? You can't have food as an energy
source."