How progressive is Big Oil?

How progressive is Big Oil?

Two things to start:

Welcome back to another Energy Source.

I’ve just returned from an extensive reporting trip in Canada’s oil and gas heartlands. There’s a long piece coming soon, but one takeaway was plain: rising commodity prices and a new global political focus on energy security have lifted the mood of fossil fuel producers, who are more bullish about their prospects now than they have been in years.

The shift is also alarming activists, even as some investors signal grudging approval of the industry’s climate progress — a sentiment that will be tested today at Shell’s annual general meeting. In our first note, Myles and Justin report on the gulf in perception between Wall Street and campaign groups.

Our second note reports on complaints from Global Witness, a non-profit focused on corruption in the extractive industries, about the secrecy shrouding the Biden administration’s new energy task force with its “unnamed industry participants”.

It’s not all one-way traffic. Last week’s election result in Australia suggests a new focus on tighter climate policy is imminent from one of the world’s largest fossil fuel exporters. And as the US heats up again, droughts, forest fires and unseasonal heat (New York hit the mid-30s Celsius over the weekend)