What do the former Redcar steelworks on Teesside, a university in the Midlands and forests in the Scottish Highlands have in common? Answer: Big Oil is praying they hold the key to its future. Strikes by schoolchildren, the rise of “flight-shaming” and an exodus of investors have left the energy industry reeling. Oil giants’ multibillion-pound bet — that gas will power the global economy into a low-carbon future — now looks risky. As the mood changes, Big Oil is making increasingly ambitious — and desperate — attempts to clean itself up and reduce or trap carbon emissions. For giants including Shell, Total and BP, that means carbon capture and storage (CCS) at Redcar, promoting hydrogen as an alternative fuel, such as a pilot at Keele
BP's outgoing chief, Bob Dudley, has said excluding natural gas from energy-transition efforts would be a "huge and unnecessary risk", even though both the public and politicians are seemingly turning against it. Oil majors such as BP and Shell have invested heavily in natural gas projects and are also now looking to champion technology such as carbon capture and storage, which could trap CO2 emissions below the ground. Natural gas emits about half the CO2 of coal and the oil companies claim its use would ease the transition to renewable energy sources.