Oil giants decide to ‘choose cash over climate’

Big impact: A Chevron petrol station in Burbank, California. From 2015 through 2022, oil and gas majors had invested a combined US$113bil (RM528bil) in low-carbon assets and technologies. — AFP

WASHINGTON: The world’s five biggest publicly listed oil and gas companies posted just under US$200bil (RM935.3bil) in total profits last year.

Faced with three strategic possibilities for how to use their cash piles – extract oil and gas apace, move their businesses into renewable power and energy transition assets or return money to shareholders – the super majors have largely sprung for the third option in recent weeks.