As Profits Rise, Oil Majors Face New Pressures

<p>We started the Covid pandemic at negative oil prices. Today, benchmark prices are above $70. And top oil companies are reporting billions of dollars in profits.</p><p>And now there is <a href="https://www.woodmac.com/news/opinion/Investors-exert-their-influence-over-the-energy-transition/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">more scrutiny than ever</a> on how they’re going to spend that money.</p><p>Activist shareholders are starting to get climate champions on oil major board seats -- most notably, climate tech investor and former wind executive Andy Karsner on Exxon Mobil’s board.</p><p>A dutch court is now forcing Shell to reduce the emissions from its products by 45%, after a successful lawsuit from environmental groups. Oil executives now have their lawyers on speed dial.</p><p>And big asset managers, like BlackRock, which lend to many of the world’s energy giants, are scrutinizing their climate plans.&nbsp;</p><p>So what does it all amount to as oil markets rebound?</p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/Ed_Crooks" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ed Crooks</a>, the vice chair of Americas at Wood Mackenzie, joins us this week to discuss.</p><p>Plus, we’ll talk about <a href="https://infrastructurereportcard.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a new report card</a> on America’s infrastructure. It’s a slight improvement, but the grade is still pretty awful.&nbsp;</p><p>And, carbon offsets <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/27/wildfires-rage-carbon-credits-500830" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">are going up in flames</a>. Literally. What comes next for forestry offsets?</p><p><em>The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow. As a leading provider of PV inverter solutions across the world, Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone and 154 gigawatts in total across the globe. Email them to learn more.</em></p><p><em>The Energy Gang is brought to you by S&amp;C Electric Company. Today, non-wires alternatives such as mi