Running A Fossil Fuel Business Isn’t What It Used To Be

Running A Fossil Fuel Business Isn’t What It Used To Be

It's becoming more and more difficult to be in the fossil fuel business. On both sides of the Atlantic, lawmakers and unelected bureaucrats are turning up the heat, so to speak, on companies over the issue of climate change. In the U. S. House of Representatives, Democrats have launched an inquiry into whether oil companies have participated in so-called "climate disinformation." Last week, letters were sent to top executives of Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell seeking records, and hearings are scheduled for next month. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to propose a series of new disclosure requirements all publicly traded companies must make, possibly as soon as year-end, to inform investors about potential climate risks associated with their business. In Europe, the strategy appears to be to choke off any and all lending to the fossil fuel industry. Next year, the European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to look into the trading operations of major banks in what's being called a climate "stress test," and at least one big activist investor group, ShareAction, is pressuring lenders to cut all ties to fossil fuels. Of course, none of this accounts for the fact that