Oil supermajor Shell has restated its commitment to tackling global climate change but has ruled out a move into renewable technology manufacturing.
Chief executive Ben van Beurden said the company welcomed worldwide efforts to move to a lower carbon economy.
However he said Shell would not be making solar panels and wind turbines as the oil giant would likely move into a different role for renewable energy when crude demand begins to slide.
Van Beurden said: “One thing is very clear, we don’t want to be exposed to the very front end of that [renewables] value chain. I don’t see us going into solar panel manufacturing or turbine manufacturing.
“That is just one step too far removed from our core competencies. We tried this before and we don’t think it’s a very good business to be in. I don’t think anybody is enjoying this type of business.
“But looking at it, can we be a developer, can we be a system integrator, can we be an aggregator and trader. Can we work much closer with the customer when it comes to renewable power – yes, absolutely.”
Van Beurden, who was speaking after the firm’s Q2 presentation, also addressed recent announcements by the UK and France to ban new petrol and diesel vehicles in the future.
But he said that he doubted the ban would have a significant near term impact on the automotive fuel business, one of Shell’s key markets.
He suggested the rest of the world’s reliance on gas guzzlers would likely make oil demand see a gradual decline rather than going off a cliff edge.
He said: “We’ve seen the announcements of course and again, to be perfectly honest I think they are very welcome.
“They are also very needed announcements if we want to maintain a pathway to two degree Celsius. We have, as a society agreed in Paris we need to do things like this.
“In the more advanced economies further electrification of the economy for mobility is going to be absolutely necessary.
“Even if the UK, France, the whole of Europe or the Western World in general would all go to 100% electric vehicles that would be great but it wouldn’t be enough.
“We still have less advanced economies that cannot make that switch. They do not have the electrical infrastructure in place to do so, they do not have the wealth to do so.
He added: “We have to adapt to it. We have to keep in mind that new fuels and new mobility options are new opportunities.
“But we also have to been involved in the electrical chain for the renewable business.
“You also have to bear in mind that in terms of oil even if its peaks its not game over. It will be a gradual decline.
“When that will happen we don’t know but we are certain it will.”
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