Does The Big Oil Industry Really Have Significant Renewable Energy Investments? – CleanTechnica

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Ever since the public became aware of the damage oil and gas companies have caused to the planet, they’ve been quite remorseful, boasting how really, really dedicated they are to the transition to renewable energy. A 2025 Nature study, however, tells a different story. In an analysis of the energy assets of 250 of the largest oil and gas companies, renewable energy investments represent only a teeny, tiny proportion of the total energy production of these companies. Moreover, about half of their contribution to renewable energy deployment is related to the acquisition of other renewable energy companies — which may be considered as a financial contribution without operational additionality.

In essence, “the oil and gas industry’s discourse to be ‘part of the solution’ is one element of a strategy to salvage their social and political licenses to operate in the face of pressure to decarbonize the energy system,” the authors write.

So, if you ever have doubted the commitment of Big Oil to low carbon energy production, here is your proof. These are just the facts, ma’am — and sir.

The Chance to Transition to a Worthy Energy Model

Earlier this week, Bill McKibben wrote on his Substack about his visit to the New Bedford Whaling Museum and his fascination with the story of how whale oil grew into a huge 19th century energy source. As the whale oil era expired and the oil that powers so much of our lives today was gaining transcendence, did the whale oil industry fight back? No. McKibben says they “took the capital they’d made sending out whaling vessels and used it instead to finance new ventures which took advantage of the novel and plentiful fuel sources.”

Today, renewable energy investments are seen as strategic moves by Big Oil to gain socio-political nods as the world transitions to reduced or no carbon power. Wouldn’t you think that the fossil fuel industry today would similarly see the proverbial writing on the wall and look to renewable energy investments to maintain their profitability quotients? It would be a strategy much like the 19th century whaling backers who saw new sources of fuel emerging and decided to spread out their investments.

Over the years, fossil fuel companies have promised to change their evil emissions’ ways by entering into the world of green energy. Researchers Llavero-Pasquina and Bontempi, who led the study published in Nature, wanted to understand the degree to which the oil and gas industry have faced the significant adaptation challenges in their business models. After all, we’re at a moment in time marked by what the researchers call “complex sustainability dilemmas and the progressive institutionalization of anti-fossil fuels norms.”

Could oil and gas industry narratives that it is “part of the solution” to the climate crisis be factually based? It would require substantive renewable energy investments and commitment to low carbon projects.

What’s the Big Oil Scorecard for Renewable Energy Investments?

The researchers wanted to identify all major solar, wind, hydropower, and geothermal projects owned by the largest 250 oil and gas companies. In doing so, they asked:

• What is the percentage of global renewable energy capacity owned by oil and gas companies?
• How much of the primary energy production of oil and gas companies comes from renewable electricity sources?

The largest 250 oil and gas companies by hydrocarbon production listed in Urgewald’s Global Oil and Gas Exit List were responsible for 88% of the global production in 2022. That’s where the researchers started, looking at all their subsidiaries, acquisitions, and sister companies in the power generation sector. They reviewed ownership stakes that required renewable energy investments.

They found that the largest 250 oil and gas companies only own about 1.42% of the global renewable energy capacity in operation.

• Around half (54%) of the operating capacity was owned by the oil and gas firms through companies they acquired.
• 68% of the operating capacity was located in Europe, the USA, India, and Brazil.
• The contribution was highest for geothermal (6.96%) and offshore wind (5.24%), technologies for which there is a relative transfer of know-how from well drilling and offshore operations.
• The oil and gas industry ownership share was larger for projects under construction, pre-construction, or simply announced.
• Their capacity in the pipeline only represented 4% of the COP28 decision to triple renewable energy by 2030.
• Sister companies contributed to at least 10% of global operating renewable energy [largely attributable (94%) to the sister companies’ of Chinese state-owned firms].

The researchers collected data that led to estimates about how much of the oil and gas industry’s primary energy generation came from renewable sources. To get there, they calculated technology-specific capacity factors based on the capacity and generation figures reported in the annual reports of 13 oil and gas companies. From those sources they estimated how much energy was generated annually by each of the 250 oil and gas companies based on their operating capacity.

This approximation suggested that the aggregated renewable energy generation of the largest 250 oil and gas companies may only represent about 0.13% of their total primary energy extraction (hydrocarbons + renewables). Data analysis could only identify operating renewable energy projects for 49 of the 250 companies analyzed.

• TotalEnergies was the company with the most installed capacity, at nearly 14.6 G — and renewable generation only accounted for 1.59% of its total primary energy extraction. (A French court this week ruled that TotalEnergies had engaged in “misleading commercial practices” by overstating its climate pledges.)
• Runners-up Eni, BP, TAQA, and Shell each came in around 4 GW.
• The companies with the largest share of renewable energy in their total production are TAQA (9.02%) and Pampa Energia (6.68%) — but neither has core business in the power sector or much oil and gas production.
• Japanese Mitsubishi produces about 4.89% of their energy from renewable sources.
• None of the North American companies had any significant renewable assets.

They do add that fossil fuel companies’ ultimate contribution to climate change mitigation is much more than a mere measurement of total energy production.

“Instead, it should be judged by considering a whole set of measures, including how much fossil fuel reserves (in barrels) they leave unexploited and how much oil and gas infrastructure they decommission, avoiding the addition of renewables to hydrocarbon extraction and use. Indeed, transition pathways that rely on a reduction of energy demand significantly decrease the need for renewable energy deployment required to attain the Paris Agreement’s targets.”

The authors recommend that future research should consider the “socio-ecological impacts and justice implications of the deployment of renewable energies by oil and gas companies in qualitative terms.” Already there has been critical analysis that shows how industrial-scale renewable development can lead to serious negative social and ecological impacts or encompassing environmental justice matters.