In February, the world’s major oil companies announced record profits for 2022, amassing billions of pounds from soaring energy prices in the wake of the sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. This shameless war-profiteering contrasts with the millions of people unable to keep warm over the winter, heat their food or keep the lights on. At the same time, far from using these astronomical surpluses to pursue their much-trumpeted plans to support ‘green energy’ and reduce carbon emissions, the major players have announced vast new investment in fossil fuels and a retrenchment of their ‘environmentally friendly’ plans.
• BP raked in $28bn, the highest profits in its 114-year history. It subsequently announced it would spend $8bn more than anticipated in oil and gas exploration and would reduce its commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions from 35-40% to 25-30%.
• ExxonMobil’s $55.7bn represents the highest annual earnings ever for a western oil company. After spending millions of dollars promoting its pledge to produce environmentally friendly fuels from algae, it is now scrapping the project. Instead, it will spend $25bn on oil and gas development this year.
• Shell and Chevron also announced record profits, of $39.9bn and $36.5bn respectively. Shell has announced plans to invest heavily in natural gas in the coming year. It will not increase spending on ‘green’ energy. CEO Wael Sawan spelled out Shell’s priorities succinctly: ‘We cannot justify going for low returns… If we cannot achieve the double-digit returns in a business, we need to question very hard if we should continue in that business’.
It does not matter if the planet burns while there are profits to be made from its destruction. The latest IPCC report has spelled out that the world is on course to reach a disastrous 2C rise in global temperatures by the end of the century. The hundreds of thousands, even millions of lives that will be lost through extreme weather events and starvation caused by droughts and heatwaves count for nothing against the dividends of a handful of wealthy shareholders. These are the hardheaded calculations inevitable under capitalism.
Cat Wiener
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 293 April/May 2023
