Greenpeace activists board a BP oil rig in Cromarty Firth to stop it from further oil drilling at sea, June 10th 2019, Cromarty, Scotland, United Kingdom. The oil rig 'Paul B. Loyd, Jnr', owned by Transocean, was due to head to BP's Vorlich field, 150 miles east of Aberdeen to drill for oil for BP. Change-over of Greenpeace climber.The occupation by Greenpeace activists subsequently delayed the departure for 5 days and 14 activists were arrested in the process.
Stick with an approach to climate change mitigation in which the private sector continues to be seen as the savior, and we are setting ourselves up to continue to fail.Veiled by discussion of headline global trends in new renewables capacity investment is the fact that almost all the incremental progress is currently being made in one country: China.
Moreover, the state is far from being a passive shareholder in these companies. The companies are best seen as instruments wielded by the state in the service of achieving its industrial, geopolitical, and – increasingly – environmental objectives. Add to this the fact that the banks financing all the new renewables development in China are generally also state-owned and directed, and a stark reality comes into focus. This is essentially central planning in action.
Most importantly of all, Western governments all provide support mechanisms of various kinds designed to incentivize new renewables investment, whether it is the United States’ tax credits or the feed-in tariffs and premiums more familiar in non-US markets.renewables development. They merely ‘nudge’. The Chinese authorities nudge too, but always with a willingness to move into hands-on direction mode when necessary.
Little wonder, then, that companies accustomed to much higher returns than this serially thumb their noses at renewables. Most notable here are the big U.S. oil and gas companies, which typically do not proceed with new hydrocarbon projects unless returns of a minimum of 15 percent are anticipated.