January 20, 2011 – Shell tries to change the subject from its own emissions
Twelve years ago, on this day, January, 20, 2011, Shell tried to change the subject.
“After being called by an official from Royal Dutch Shell regarding the April 2011 conference in Banff, Alta., that was to focus on “less controversial” aspects of the climate-change debate, such as energy efficiency and transportation demand management, [Canadian associate assistant deputy minister Mike] Beale felt compelled to state what was missing. “I had to point out – nicely – that the initiative seems to sidestep the gorilla in the room of emission reductions from O&G (oil and gas), but that otherwise, it seems like a great idea,” wrote Beale in the Jan. 20, 2011 email, released to Postmedia News through access to information legislation.”
http://mikedesouza.com/2012/09/27/oil-and-gas-is-gorilla-in-room-on-feds-climate-change-policies-environment-canada/
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 391.5ppm. As of 2023 it is 419.
The context was that the post-Copenhagen conversation was grinding on (just because Canada had pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, that didn’t mean the ant-climate action folks had downed tools).
This should also be seen in the context of Shell’s multi-decade efforts at minimising, distracting and subject-changing (they don’t do outright denial anymore, it’s all about the predatory delay).
What I think we can learn from this
Trying to have an honest conversation about what we are up against and what needs to be done will continue to be difficult when your interlocutors want to derail the conversation, and will use subtle means to do it sometimes….
What happened next
Shell has indulged in all sorts of cool-washing, involving hipster women and also Jean-luc Godard rip offs.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Do comment on this post.